European Drought

The Rhine's water level at Cologne fell to 68 centimetres on Friday morning, breaking the previous record low of 69 centimetres set in October 2018, after a prolonged heatwave and drought shrank the river in both depth and width.

Duisburg-Ruhrort sank to a historic low of 153 centimetres and is forecast to drop to 152 centimetres by late evening, while Düsseldorf is expected to set a new negative record of 22 centimetres early Saturday. At Emmerich, near the Dutch border, forecasters predict the gauge will read zero on Sunday morning rather than the minus three previously anticipated. South of Koblenz at Kaub, navigation for large commercial barges has become impossible.

The drought's toll is widening beyond the Rhine. Hungary and Romania were forced to shut down nuclear power stations because of low water on the Danube, and Hungary's Lake Balaton has dried up, triggering booking cancellations.

Nineteen of Italy's 27 major cities faced the highest-level heat alert on Friday, with Florence recording temperatures up to 39 degrees Celsius as the country endures its fourth heat wave of the summer. The Health Ministry predicted that 23 cities will reach red-alert status by Sunday, with Terni expected to hit 41 degrees. The Po River at Cremona has fallen below its 2022 record low, and irrigation withdrawals have been slashed across Veneto.

The crisis has deepened across the continent. The World Health Organization and the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control calculated 10,000 excess deaths in Europe in the last week of June alone. Wildfires in Spain and France have forced more than 300,000 evacuations, while low Danube water levels have shut down the Paks nuclear plant in Hungary and a facility at Cernavoda, Romania.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres warned that El Niño is adding fuel to an already burning planet, as sea-surface warming exceeds three and a half degrees. Rome Mayor Roberto Gualtieri accused the government of leaving municipalities to cope alone.