Thousands of dead fish have blanketed the surface of a lagoon in Mexico’s northern state of Chihuahua, and local officials are blaming an intense drought.
The fish deaths at the Bustillos Lagoon, by the town of Anahuac in Chihuahua, came during long dry spells as temperatures have climbed above 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit). The lagoon’s water levels are dangerously low, officials said.

Some form of drought is afflicting nearly 90% of Mexico, the highest rate since 2011, according to government data. Chihuahua state has been hit particularly hard with most of its territory engulfed by the most extreme levels of dryness.
There was much less water in the lagoon for the fish to live in, and the remaining water was of poor quality, according to Irma de la Pena, head of the Ecology Department in the city of Cuauhtemoc.