Australians are no strangers to drought, but we're not the only ones battling long, tough periods with little rain.
Months of drought and record-high temperatures, viewed by scientists as a consequence of climate change, have snarled river traffic on vital arteries in other parts of Europe, including Germany, Italy and France.
And in the US, researchers are worried some states might be facing the worst drought conditions in 12 centuries.
But these severe conditions have also revealed some wonderful hidden treasures and pieces of history — like a World War II bomb!
Here's a selection of some of the discoveries.
Nazi ships on the Danube
The mighty Danube River has been reduced to one of its lowest levels in almost a century, exposing the hulks of dozens of explosives-laden German warships sunk during World War II.
The vessels were among hundreds scuttled along the Danube by Nazi Germany's Black Sea fleet in 1944 as they retreated from advancing Soviet forces, and still hamper river traffic during low water levels.
However, this year's drought has exposed more than 20 hulks on a stretch of the Danube near Prahovo in eastern Serbia — and many of them still contain tonnes of ammunition and explosives, and pose a danger to shipping.
Dinosaur tracks in Texas
Drought in Texas has dried up a river flowing through Dinosaur Valley State Park, exposing tracks from giant reptiles that lived some 113 million years ago.
Most of the tracks were made by Acrocanthosaurus, which weighed nearly seven tons as an adult and stood 4.5 metres tall.
Another dinosaur, Sauroposeidon, also left tracks in the park. It measured more than 18 metres tall and weighed 44 tons in adulthood.
The state park — located in an inland area south-west of the city of Dallas — was once on the edge of an ancient ocean.
A Buddhist statue in the Yangtze
China last week issued its first national drought alert of the year and the Poyang Lake, one of the Yangtze River's most important flood basins, has now shrunk to a quarter of its normal size for this time of year, state news agency Xinhua says.
The drought exposed a once-submerged Buddhist statue on top of Foyeliang island reef in the Yangtze.
The island is in the south-western region of Chongqing, where rainfall is down 60 per cent this year compared to the seasonal norm.
'Hunger stones' on the Rhine
As one of Europe's great working rivers, the Rhine is usually filled with vessels transporting raw materials and products to and from power plants and factories along the waterway.
However, low water levels across Germany are seeing "hunger stones" — known locally as Hungerstein — re-emerge on riverbeds.
Traditionally found in central Europe, the stones are engraved to commemorate famine and other hardships, and act as low-level water warnings for future generations.
A Bronze Age city in Mosul Dam
Extreme drought severely depleted water levels in Iraq's Mosul Dam, revealing the ruins of a 3,400-year-old lost city.
The Bronze Age City, featuring a palace and sprawling fort, is located at a site known as Kemune in the Kurdistan region.
German and Kurdish archaeologists have been racing to excavate the site before the dam refills.
WWII bomb in an Italian river
Military experts defused and carried out a controlled explosion of a 450-kilogram World War II bomb, which was previously submerged in the now drought-stricken River Po in northern Italy.
According to the army, about 3,000 people living nearby had to be evacuated ahead of the disposal operation.
Bomb disposal engineers removed the fuse from the US-manufactured device, which the army said contained 240kg of explosive, before it was transported to a quarry 45 kilometres away to be destroyed.
'Spanish Stonehenge' in a dam
Spain is facing its worst drought on record, with research suggesting the Iberian Peninsula could be the driest it has been for more than 1,000 years.
It's led to the emergence of a prehistoric stone circle dubbed the "Spanish Stonehenge", which has only been fully visible on four occasions since 1963.
Known officially as the Dolmen of Guadalperal, the formation is located in the central province of Caceres and is believed to date back to 5,000 BC.
Human remains in Lake Mead
At least five discoveries of human remains have been made in Arizona's Lake Mead, a reservoir off the Hoover Dam that has dropped to about a quarter of its capacity, in the past few months.
Boaters found the first of the bodies in a barrel in May this year after water levels dropped so low the bottom of the lake was exposed.
Police believe the person died of a gunshot wound around the 1970s to 1980s, based on clothing and other evidence, and are investigating it as a homicide.
More skeletal remains have been found in the area since — some are yet to be identified.
Lake Mead supplies water to millions of people in Arizona, California, Nevada and Mexico, including large areas of farmland, and US officials say some areas will experience cuts to their water supplies as the lake continues to shrink.
