Destroyed crops, riverbed cyclists and a ‘Rock of Starvation’: how drought has devastated the Danube

The Danube, the European Union's longest river, has fallen to record-low levels. In Budapest, a boulder historically called the 'Rock of Starvation' — named for its emergence during famines — has surfaced almost entirely from the riverbed, its sandy foundation now exposed. The Guardian reports that Hungary is facing an unprecedented energy crisis, having been forced to shut down all but one of its Danube-cooled nuclear reactors for the first time in forty-four years.

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