Record low Danube levels strand boats and leave fishermen jobless amid drought and heatwaves in Romania and Bulgaria.
CORABIA: The tourist port in the Romanian town of Corabia, on the banks of the Danube, is deserted except for a few pleasure boats stranded in the algae. The river is so low that vessels can no longer navigate due to sandbars.
“Last year we could swim across but now the water only comes up to our chests,” said 71-year-old fisherman Doru, who only gave his first name. “In two years, we’ll be able to just walk across.”
The Danube, Europe’s second longest river, has dropped to record lows in parts due to prolonged rain shortages and successive heatwaves since May. From its source in Germany to its mouth on the Black Sea, countries along its 2,850-kilometre route are feeling the impact.
In Slovakia, Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria, ships cannot travel fully loaded and face lengthy waits. Hungary reduced output at its nuclear power plant, which uses Danube water for cooling, while Romania shut both reactors at the Cernavoda plant for the first time simultaneously due to low water levels.
A report by the World Weather Attribution group last week said human-caused climate change made the drought more severe. The river is at a 30-year low in Romania and Slovakia and at its lowest ever in Hungary.
At the Vidin-Calafat bridge connecting Bulgaria and Romania, fishermen complained of being out of work because low water trapped their boats onshore.
“It’s never dried up this much before,” fisherman Rossen Dobrev told AFP. “Now we can even walk all the way to Romania.”
Aleksandar Angelov, a fisherman for 39 years, said: “There’s never been a drought like this before. The people in charge up there need to take action. We don’t have any water here.”
Ferry services between Romania and Bulgaria have been temporarily suspended in two areas. A cruise ship with almost 200 passengers had to be evacuated this week after running aground on the Danube in Bulgaria.
“Cargo vessels are being forced to wait or sail with a reduced load,” a spokesperson for the Bulgarian government’s Danube agency told AFP.
In Romania, the water level along parts of the Danube is already one metre below the minimum navigable. The river recently dropped to a three-decade low. Adrian Maizel, from the administration monitoring traffic on the Danube, said: “We are making efforts to maintain a navigable channel as much as possible, albeit a narrower one, so that navigation is not completely blocked.”
Both countries recorded low water levels much sooner than last year. In Budapest, the Danube has dropped to its lowest level since measurements began. Dozens of Hungarian cities and villages along the river introduced water restrictions during the June heatwave. By July, several cruises had been suspended.
At Slovakia’s Gabcikovo dam, lock operations have slowed, causing longer waiting times.
With the heat expected to last, there is no immediate relief. Pensioner Mitica Nicolae, 65, from Corabia, said: “I’ve lived here for 25 years and the water has never been this low.” He said he was catching fewer fish and feared for farm crops. National authorities imposed irrigation restrictions on farmers in the southeast, though those AFP spoke to said they had not been affected.
On a beach in southern Romania, a boy sloshed his bare feet through ankle-deep water. “It’s like quicksand,” he shouted.
