The Negro River, the Amazon's second largest tributary, has reached its lowest level since official measurements began near Manaus 121 years ago. Monday's record confirms that this part of the world's largest rainforest is suffering its worst drought, just a little over two years after its most significant flooding.
Boats and houseboats are stuck in a dry area of the Negro River during a drought in Manaus, Amazonas state, Brazil, Monday, Oct. 16, 2023. The Amazon’s second largest tributary on Monday reached its lowest level since official measurements began near Manaus more than 120 years ago. Boats and houseboats are stuck in a dry area of the Negro River during a drought in Manaus, Amazonas state, Brazil, Monday, Oct. 16, 2023.
Throughout Brazil´s Amazon, low river levels have left hundreds of riverine communities isolated and struggling to get access to drinkable water. The drought also has disrupted commercial navigation that supplies Manaus, a city of 2 million with a large industrial park.“There is no more water to go through. Navigation is over,” boatman Cledson Lopes Brasil told The Associated Press.
For one month now, Brasil has switched to a lower-powered boat, better suited for shallow waters. Still, he can´t reach most communities along Taruma-Açu, a tributary of the Negro River. Some riverine dwellers must walk up to three hours to reach their houses — and tourism has stopped altogether.from nearby man-caused fires for deforestation and pasture clearance. The drought is also the likely cause of dozens of river dolphin deaths in Tefe Lake, near the Amazon River.
Philip Fearnside, an American researcher at the Brazilian National Institute of Amazonian Research, a public agency, expects the situation to deteriorate, both during the ongoing event and in the future with increasing frequency and severity of similar events with climate change.
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