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The drought gripping large parts of Europe has pushed water levels down to rarely seen lows.
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Hunger stone at Pirna-Oberposta becomes visible
The persistently low water of the Elbe has exposed a historic hunger stone near Pirna, close to the border with the Czech Republic. The stone in the Oberposta district bears numerous dates carved into its surface, recording past episodes of extreme low water. The oldest markings go back to 1707.
For centuries, such hunger stones were seen as warning signs of drought and the hardship that came with it. Extreme dryness could threaten harvests, disrupt shipping and, in earlier times, even trigger famines. The stones become visible only when river levels drop particularly low.
The Pirna-Oberposta hunger stone is regarded as one of the best-known and largest of its kind in Germany. Its reappearance makes the current drought visible in a striking way and at the same time recalls historic dry spells.
Around Leverkusen, north of Cologne, the Rhine’s extreme low water has also exposed historical traces. South of the mouth of the Wupper, hunger stones from earlier droughts have likewise emerged. One of the stones is dated 1959. Historical records also mention a hunger stone bearing the inscription “If you see me, you will weep” – but that particular stone has not yet reappeared.
War fleet in the Danube
In the stretch that separates Serbia from Romania, a broken ship’s hull has appeared on a sandbank in the Danube that is normally submerged. Other vessels protrude halfway out of the water, and some are reported to still contain armaments.
These wrecks are part of the fleet Adolf Hitler had stationed in the Black Sea. The German army deliberately sank them towards the end of the Second World War in an effort to slow the Soviet advance.
Historians estimate that up to 200 German warships were sunk in this way in September 1944, eight months before Nazi Germany capitulated in May 1945.
This is not the first time low water has revealed these relics. They have surfaced during previous droughts and each time have disappeared again as soon as the river rose.
The Serbian government has tried in the past to recover the wrecks. Most, however, still lie where they were sunk, partly because explosives remain on board and any intervention would be risky.
Danube drought exposes more relics
The phenomenon is not confined to the Serbian-Romanian border. Along the more than 2,800-kilometre course of the Danube, falling water levels are bringing a wide variety of finds to light.
In Bulgaria, around the village of Ryahovo, just south of the border near Bucharest, the retreating water has uncovered the remains of what experts believe to be a woolly mammoth. The skeleton was lying on the riverbank after the recent heatwaves drove the water level down to record lows.
In Hungary, low water levels are affecting several stretches of the river. Near Budapest, an almost intact Wehrmacht motorcycle has emerged after lying buried in the mud for decades, alongside further ammunition.
Experts have also found German anti-tank mines, remnants of hand grenades and artillery shells in the riverbed. According to the Hungarian Institute of Military History, this section of the Danube may have been used as a dumping ground for war debris after the siege and battle of Budapest in 1944 and 1945.
Further south, near Mohács, the wreck of a Second World War warship has come to light. In Baja, branches of the Danube such as the Sugovica have dried out so much that people were able to cross them on foot.
The drought is also having consequences that go beyond historical discoveries. In Hungary, low water levels have put the cooling system of the Paks nuclear power plant under strain. At the beginning of August, the river stood only just above the minimum level required for operation. A few days later, the new Hungarian prime minister reported that the level was once again several centimetres above that threshold.
In Romania, the low water level has forced the authorities to suspend ferry services. Barges are stranded, and irrigating fields is becoming ever more difficult in a country already suffering from extreme dryness. In Serbia, the falling river has exposed sandbanks that have turned into makeshift beaches. At the same time, hydropower generation in the country has declined.
