IN PICS | Dramatic images show drought's toll on Amazon and its rivers

Associated Press

Drought is devastating Brazil's Amazon rainforest, and some rivers are falling to historic lows. Images of one of the Amazon River's main tributaries, the Negro River, show just how dramatically water is dwindling.

(Photo | AP)

In the photographs of the Negro River and surrounding areas in late June and early July, it was nearly 27 meters (88.5 feet) deep at the port in Manaus. In just three months, it fell by nearly half, to 13.9 meters (45.6 feet) as on Sept. 26, 2024.

(Photo | AP)

If the pace at which the Negro has been dropping continues, within a week it will break the record for the lowest level in 122 years of monitoring.

(Photo | AP)

The Negro River drains about 10% of the Amazon basin and is the world's sixth-largest by water volume.

(Photo | AP)

Manaus, the biggest city in the rainforest, is where the Negro joins the Amazon River, which in Brazil is called the Solimoes River upstream.

(Photo | AP)

Riverine communities around Manaus and elsewhere in the Amazon have been left stranded. Authorities have been distributing potable water and water purification systems.

(Photo | AP)

Passenger boats and supply ships are struggling to navigate the shallows.

(Photo | AP)

A Guarani Indigenous leader performs a religious ritual during a climate protest in Sao Paulo.

(Photo | AP)
(Photo | AP)