Just 10% of Mexico’s dams are now full, with many seeing levels drop below half or lower, according to official data, as Jose Luis Gonzalez reports for Reuters. July was the second hottest month in Mexico since 1953, according to the national weather service, with temperatures reaching 45 degrees Celsius (113 F) last month in some areas.
Agricultural towns like Coyame, which do not have access to groundwater and are almost entirely dependent on the region’s shrinking dam, have been devastated. The economic devastation in Coyame could be felt for a long time still, with only 30% of its next harvest planted.
Rivers have dried up to reveal cracked beds. Fields that should be teeming are bare. The earth is so dry that young crops are wilting. Surviving cattle are bony, their ribs protruding.
Source: Reuters. Read the full story and watch a video here
Photo: Hicterio Torres looks at the carcasses of his cows that died from the drought near the Luis L. Leon “El Granero” dam in the municipality of Aldama, in Chihuahua state, Mexico August 3, 2022. Credit REUTERS/Jose Luis Gonzalez
