Europe’s drying rivers, reservoirs keep throwing up submerged surprises

Ancient stones in Germany, World War II ships in Danube latest in the series

Weeks of baking drought across Europe have seen water levels in rivers and lakes fall to levels few can remember, exposing long-submerged treasures – and some unwanted hazards.

In Spain, suffering its worst drought in decades, archaeologists have been delighted by the emergence of a prehistoric stone circle dubbed the “Spanish Stonehenge” that is usually covered by the waters of a dam.

Memories of past droughts have also been rekindled in Germany by the reappearance of so-called “hunger stones” along the River Rhine. Many such stones have become visible along the banks of Germany’s largest river in recent weeks.

Bearing dates and people’s initials, their re-emergence is seen by some as a warning and reminder of the hardships people faced during former droughts. Dates visible on stones seen in Worms, south of Frankfurt, and Rheindorf, near Leverkusen, included 1947, 1959, 2003 and 2018.

Another of Europe’s mighty rivers, the Danube, has fallen to one of its lowest levels in almost a century as a result of the drought, exposing the hulks of more than 20 German warships sunk during World War Two near Serbia’s river port town of Prahovo, , many of which still contain tonnes of ammunition and explosives and pose a danger to shipping.

“The German flotilla has left behind a big ecological disaster that threatens us, people of Prahovo,” said Velimir Trajilovic, 74, a pensioner from Prahovo who wrote a book about the German ships.

The vessels were among hundreds scuttled along the Danube by Nazi Germany’s Black Sea fleet in 1944 as they retreated from advancing Soviet forces, and still hamper river traffic during low water levels.

Workers in the local fishing industry are also at risk, including from Romania which lies just across the river.

Months of drought and record-high temperatures have snarled river traffic on vital arteries in other parts of Europe, including Germany, Italy and France. In Serbia, the authorities have resorted to dredging to keep navigation lanes on the Danube open.

By Prahovo, some of the hulks have narrowed the navigable section on this stretch of the Danube to just 100 metres (330 feet) from 180 metres.

Strewn across the riverbed, some of the ships still boast turrets, command bridges, broken masts and twisted hulls, while others lie mostly submerged under sand banks.

In March, the Serbian government invited a tender for the salvage of the hulks and removal of ammunition and explosives. The cost of the operation was estimated at 29 million euros ($30 million).

Italy has declared a state of emergency for areas around the River Po, and in late July a previously submerged 450-kg (1,000-pound) World War Two bomb was discovered in the low-running waters of the country’s longest river.

Around 3,000 people living near the northern village of Borgo Virgilio, close to the city of Mantua, were evacuated while military experts defused and carried out a controlled explosion of the U.S.-manufactured device earlier this month. (Reuters)