Drought in the Amazon is reducing the river’s flow to historically low levels

Drought in Brazilian Amazon This week, the flow of the Branco River, one of the largest tributaries in the region, reached an all-time low.

At the beginning of the week, the river reached the limit of 39 negative centimeters of flow, which is one of the worst records in its history, barely surpassing the dry 2016, when it reached 59 negative centimeters, data from National Water Agency.

The flow of the tributary, which crosses the northern state of Roraima for 500 kilometers and then flows into the Negro River, has receded so much that you can now see extensive tongues of sand hundreds of meters wide, which were previously submerged.

IN Boa Vista, In the capital of the region, people walk and take photos along the river bed, carried away by curiosity, while river transport between the banks is threatened.

In addition, the reduction in flow has paralyzed some water treatment stations and affected the population’s water supply.

In the municipality of Mucajaí, which is located on the banks of the Branco River, 70% of the supply was interrupted in the middle of the month due to the large amount of sand captured by the water pumps of the local station and the population could only be supplied through boreholes.

The drought in Roraima has also multiplied the number of fires, reaching 1,378 so far in March, compared with 499 in the same period last year, according to satellite data from Brazil’s National Institute for Space Research.

The sky over Boa Vista took on a whitish hue due to smoke from the fires, although the rain finally stopped on Friday after 42 days of drought.

He El Niño climate phenomenonwhich affected this South American country since the middle of last year, caused high temperatures and lack of rain in the north and heavy rainfall in the south.