Amazon drought: Stranded boats and dead fish

12 October 2023

An aerial photograph taken by drone shows boats and houses stranded in a dried up area of Lago do Puraquequara lake, in Manaus, Amazonas, Brazil, 06 October 2023

A severe drought in the Brazilian Amazon is disrupting transport, isolating communities and killing wildlife.

The Brazilian government attributes the drought to climate change and the El Niño weather phenomenon, which has caused the volume of rainfall in the northern Amazon to fall below the historical average and river levels to drop to near record levels.

The low water levels pose a threat to the estimated 30 million people that call the Amazon basin home.

EPA

A man walks next to a boat in Manaus, Brazil, 07 October 2023

EPA

A state of emergency has been declared in Manaus and more than 20 other cities.

Many rivers have dried up, leaving tens of thousands of people stranded in remote jungle villages.

Entire villages that depend on the rivers for a sustainable livelihood and transportation are now struggling to go about daily life and have to receive food, medicine and water by air.

Fisherman and trader Raimundo Silva do Carmo, 67, fetches water from a well, Lago do Puraquequara lake, Manaus, Brazil

EPA

Some inhabitants have been forced to dig wells by hand in search of water.

Fisherman and trader Raimundo Silva do Carmo is one of them. The 67-year-old bathes in and collects water from a well he dug himself in a dry area of Lago do Puraquequara lake in Manaus.

EPA

Fisherman Raimundo da Silva do Carmo, 67, baths with water from a well on Puraquequara Lake, which has been affected by drought, in Manaus, Brazil, October 6, 2023.

Reuters

A barge carrying vehicles, gas and supplies ran aground in the low water levels last month and has been stranded on the banks of the Rio Negro river since then.

Aerial view of raft with vehicles, gas and supplies gets stuck in the dry bed of the Rio Negro on October 3, 2023 in Manaus, Brazil.

Getty Images

"Help came too slow to re-float my boat as the water was receding very quickly," explained Junior Cesar da Silva, the captain of the barge tug boat.

The barge was on route to pick up supplies from Borba, 280 kilometres (175 miles) away on the Madeira River, a tributary of the Amazon.

"On the Madeira, beaches and rocks are appearing that we've not seen before," the captain said.

Captain Junior Cesar stands on his tug boat next to a barge stranded on a sand bank of a diminished Rio Negro river in Cacau Pirera, Brazil October 10, 2023.

Reuters

A barge carrying three trucks, 2,000 empty cooking gas cylinders and a backhoe, stranded on a sand bank of a diminished Rio Negro river

Reuters

A tug boat and a barge carrying three trucks, 2,000 empty cooking gas cylinders stranded on a sand bank of a diminished Rio Negro river after running aground last month, as the region is hit by a severe drought, in Cacau Pirera, Brazil October 10, 2023.

Reuters

Experts suspect that the heat wave and drought may be the cause of the high numbers of fish and river dolphins, known as boto, which have been washing up dead.

Boat pilot Paulo Monteiro da Cruz has had to row through waters littered with dead fish at Piranha lake, which has been affected by the drought of the Solimões River.

Boat pilot Paulo Monteiro da Cruz observes dead fish at Piranha lake, which has been affected by the drought of the Solimoes River, in Manacapuru, state of Amazonas, Brazil, September 27, 2023

Reuters

Researchers from the Mamirauá Institute for Sustainable Development have been carrying out tests of the water and the dead animals found in Lake Tefe to try to pinpoint what the exact cause of their deaths is.

A dead dolphin is seen at Tefe lake, which flows into the Solimoes river, that has been affected by the high temperatures and drought in Tefe, Amazonas state, Brazil, October 1, 2023.

Reuters

Researchers from the Mamiraua Institute for Sustainable Development recover a dead dolphin from Tefe lake, which flows into the Solimoes River, Tefe, Amazonas state, Brazil, October 3, 2023.

Reuters

Indigenous groups, which rely on the rivers for water, food and to transport key goods such as medicines, are among those hardest hit. They have been pressing the government to declare a climate emergency.

Last month, the government set up a humanitarian task force to deliver food parcels to isolated villages but the indigenous groups say the situation has only worsened since and they need more help.