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As Europe bakes this summer in a record heat wave, the drought also causes water levels to plunge in rivers and lakes across the continent.
In the Netherlands, the Waal River is so low that it drops below the mark on the bridge.
In Germany, the Rhine is very dry, causing shipping problems.
And in Spain, receding waters in one reservoir have revealed prehistoric treasures.
The Guadalperal Dolmen, or Spanish Stonehenge, has been exposed in Cáceres province only four times since the 1960s. The rocks date back thousands of years, but were flooded due to construction under the dictator Francisco Franco.
Elsewhere in Europe, the so-called hunger stones – marks placed by people in drought conditions from the past year – are reappearing in rivers.
It’s not uncommon for water levels to drop in the summer months, but this year was extreme.
“It’s quite unusual, especially for this time of year,” Martina Becker of the German company HGK Shipping told the BBC. “This is an unusual situation for us, and the question is what happens in October, when the month is usually dry. We are approaching the record low level in 2018. We can reach that level next week.
Weather disasters like drought are inseparable from human-caused climate change. The planet has warmed 2.1 degrees Fahrenheit since 1880, according to NASA, and this is causing disaster. Ending this vicious circle requires drastically reducing our dependence on climate-destroying fossil fuels.
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