Last year, a severe drought hit many of the main rivers in the Amazon basin, putting almost every municipality in the northern Brazilian state of Amazonas state on red alert. As rivers dried up, crucial supplies couldn’t make it to further-flung parts of the state, nor could floating health centers, banks, and other essential services.
In many parts of the Amazon, 2023 was the most intense drought in history. And, according to forecasts from the Amazonas State Civil Defense force, this year’s drought is gearing up to be even worse.
At crucial parts of the Amazon River, where low water levels led to catastrophe in 2023, the river is currently significantly lower than it was this time last year. At the fluviometric station of Itacoatiara, downstream from the state capital Manaus, the river is almost a full meter and a half lower than it was at this time in 2023.
In October last year, the station measured an all-time low reading of just 36 centimeters. Indeed, in the last 20 years, water levels at the station have only ever been this low in mid-June once: in 2016.
Drought in itself is an annual occurrence in the Amazon, where the season’s operate in accordance with rainfall and river levels. In general terms, rivers in the Amazon basin are at their fullest in May and June, and are emptiest around October. Of course, this varies depending on which part of the Amazon you are talking about, as the state of Amazonas alone spreads over an area the size of France, Spain, and Sweden combined.
As such, drought is a natural feature of life in the region, but extreme droughts are rare — or, at least, they used to be.
A recurring nightmare?
In the small Amazonian city of Benjamin Constant, tucked away in the western reaches of Brazil on the country’s triple border with Colombia and Peru,...
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