The worst drought in Europe in recent years has sent the level of the Danube River to one of its lowest levels in nearly a century. A similar phenomenon affects other important waterways on the continent, such as the British Thames, the German Rhine and the Italian Po.
On the Danube near the port city of Prahovo, Serbia, the drought has revealed wrecks of German warships — some of them still loaded with explosive devices — from the 1940s.
The vessels were among hundreds that were sunk along the river by Germany’s Black Sea Fleet in 1944, when the Nazis retreated from advancing Soviet forces.
The existence of shipwrecks on the river bed is nothing new, as even today they make river traffic difficult at times when the water level drops too low. But this year’s drought has almost entirely exposed the carcasses of more than 20 of them — also multiplying the risks to navigation in the region, because of the explosives.
The place is also a center of fishing activity, including for professionals from Romania; the course of the Danube follows the border between the two countries. The lower water level narrowed the navigable portion of this stretch of river from 180 meters to about 100 meters.
“This German flotilla left behind a huge ecological disaster that today threatens the city of Prahovo,” Velimir Trajilovic, 74, author of a book on the ships, told Reuters.
In March, the Serbian government opened a tender for an operation to rescue the wrecks — which boast broken masts, gun turrets and bridges — and remove ammunition and explosives. The cost of the operation was estimated at €29 million (R$151 million).
With the worsening of the drought, the country also provided for dredging in some stretches of the Danube, in order to maintain navigability.
The Northern Hemisphere summer has been a collection of extreme weather events in many parts of the European continent. In England, for example, thermometers exceeded 40°C for the first time in history, and the government declared a state of drought in half the country.
The drought also compromised navigation on the Rhine River in Germany and the Po in Italy — where, incidentally, the drought also recently revealed World War II-era bombs. In France, Portugal and Spain, which have also experienced high temperatures and below-normal rainfall, forest fires are a major concern.
Scientists point out that the increase in extreme events is directly linked to climate change, caused by human action.
