'Hitting rock bottom' - drought, heat drain Spanish reservoirs

People walk arround the remains of the church of Sant Roma de Sau as it emerges from the low waters of the Sau Reservoir, north of Barcelona, Spain, August 8, 2022. A prolonged dry spell and extreme heat that made last July the hottest month in Spain since at least 1961, have left Spanish reservoirs at just 40% of capacity on average in early August, well below the ten-year average of around 60%, official data shows.REUTERS/Albert Gea

A flock of sheep shelter from the midday sun under the gothic arches of a medieval bridge flooded in 1956 to create the Cijara reservoir in central Spain, but now fully exposed as the reservoir is 84% empty after a severe drought.

In Andalusia, one of Europe's hottest and driest regions, paddle-boats and waterslides lie abandoned on the cracked bed of Vinuela reservoir, remnants of a rental business gone with the water, now at a critical level of 13%.