There is increasing concern that rising sea levels due to climate change will have devastating effects on low-lying islands and coastlines, as scientists have found that three islands have disappeared within the past year, NBC News reported.
Tebunginako, a village in the Pacific island nation Kiribati, has essentially been wiped away by the seas.
“It’s no longer there,” former Kiribati president Anote Tong said. “What we do have is a church sitting in the middle of the sea when the tide comes in.”
This comes after a two other islands, one in Hawaii and another off the coast of Japan, disappeared toward the end of 2018.
In 2013, the United Nations released a report saying sea levels could rise between 1.5 and 3 inches by 2100, leaving some to believe the recent disappearances are harbingers to what is to come.
Click here to read NBC News' full story with before-and-after pictures of the disappearing island.