Amazon Drought Worst in 47 YearsSeptember 24, 2010Key transportation routes across the Amazon Basin are being severed by low water levels.
A parching drought in northern Brazil has caused the Amazon River to dwindle to its lowest level since 1963.
Seven remote towns that rely on the waterway as their link to the outside world have been cut off as their tributaries all but dried up.
Meteorologists say lack of rainfall, which is typical for this time of year, should continue for a few more weeks until the start of the rainy season.
They say that the unusually active Atlantic hurricane season has “tapped” moisture that would have otherwise provided rainfall for the Amazon region.
Residents who lived through the 1963 dry spell say that the current availability of mineral water and water trucks has helped limit the drought’s impact.
A parching drought in northern Brazil has caused the Amazon River to dwindle to its lowest level since 1963.
Seven remote towns that rely on the waterway as their link to the outside world have been cut off as their tributaries all but dried up.
Meteorologists say lack of rainfall, which is typical for this time of year, should continue for a few more weeks until the start of the rainy season.
They say that the unusually active Atlantic hurricane season has “tapped” moisture that would have otherwise provided rainfall for the Amazon region.
Residents who lived through the 1963 dry spell say that the current availability of mineral water and water trucks has helped limit the drought’s impact.
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