A stone bridge dating back to the 1800s that has been submerged underwater for decades is now fully exposed after a New Jersey reservoir was emptied — but the drought is not to blame.
Chopper 4 footage from high above the Oak Ridge Reservoir in West Milford showed an area that looked more like a barren desert than a deep body of water.
"It's filled usually, I’ve never seen it like this – never," said Luanne Blohm, who lives in the town.
Another West Milford resident, Suzanne Mlynarczyk, said she has taken scores of photos of the water and surroundings before, but on Friday it "felt like I'm walking on the moon."
The now-nearly empty reservoir has been attracting plenty of onlookers of late, as people want to get a look at what has been unearthed.
Known locally as the "Ghost Bridge," neighbors said the stone bridge that is usually under feet of water dates back 200 years. It is still fully intact and now completely exposed, making for a rare sight and intriguing photo to snap.
"We always ride past this reservoir, we didn’t even know the bridge existed," said Lois Kiensicki.
U.S. & World
"I always looked for the bridge, but it's usually covered. Lately it's been getting lower and lower," Blohm said.
As reservoirs across the state dry up due to the ongoing drought, West Milford officials stressed the unique sight is not weather related. Instead, it is due to scheduled maintenance at the reservoir, which sits just miles from the ongoing Jennings Creek wildfire.
Get a weekly recap of the latest San Francisco Bay Area housing news. Sign up for NBC Bay Area’s Housing Deconstructed newsletter.
And while the reservoir being empty may just be a coincidence, climate experts all agree that the region badly needs rain and reservoirs need to fill back up before the situation gets worse.
"In the last 90 days, we should’ve had a foot of rain, and we’ve had two inches of rain, and most of that was in September. So we have a deficit of 10 inches," said state climatologist David Robertson.
