Europe's worst drought in years has pushed the mighty river Danube to one of its lowest levels in almost a century, exposing the hulks of dozens of explosives-laden German warships sunk during WW2 near Serbia's river port town of Prahovo.
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.
However, this year's drought –– viewed by scientists as a consequence of global heating –– has exposed more than 20 hulks on a stretch of the Danube near Prahovo in eastern Serbia, 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.
Workers in the local fishing industry are also at risk, including those from Romania which lies just across the river.
Extracting ammunition, explosives
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 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 $30 million.
Source: Reuters
Several regions on the Yangtze have launched weather modification programs, but with cloud cover too thin, operations in some drought-ravaged parts of the river's basin have remained on standby.
The Ministry of Water Resources said in a notice on Wednesday that drought throughout the Yangtze river basin was "adversely affecting drinking water security of rural people and livestock, and the growth of crops."
On Wednesday, central China's Hubei province became the latest to announce it would seed clouds, using silver iodide rods to induce rainfall.
The silver iodide rods -- which are typically the size of cigarettes -- are shot into existing clouds to help form ice crystals. The crystals then help the cloud produce more rain, making its moisture content heavier and more likely to be released.
Cloud seeding has been in practice since the 1940s and China has the biggest program in the world. It used seeding ahead of the Beijing Olympics in 2008 to ensure dry weather for the event, and the technique can also be used to induce snowfall or to soften hail.
At least 4.2 million people in Hubei have been affected by a severe drought since June, Hubei's Provincial Emergency Management Department said Tuesday. More than 150,000 people there have difficulties accessing drinking water, and nearly 400,000 hectares of crops have been damaged because of high temperatures and drought.
Communities often rely on these bodies of water for economic activity and governments are having to intervene with adaptation measures and relief funds, costing huge amounts of money.
China is deploying such funds and developing new supply sources to deal with the impacts on crops and livestock. Some livestock has been temporarily relocated to other regions, the Ministry of Finance said earlier this week, adding it would issue 300 million yuan ($44.30 million) in disaster relief.
To boost downstream supplies, the Three Gorges Dam, China's biggest hydropower project, will also increase water discharges by 500 million cubic meters over the next 10 days, the Ministry of Water Resources said Tuesday.
China issued its highest red alert heat warning for at least 138 cities and counties across the country on Wednesday, and another 373 were placed under the second-highest orange alert, the Meteorological Administration said.
As of Monday, China's heat wave had lasted 64 days, making it the longest in more than six decades, since full records began in 1961, the National Climate Center said in a statement. It also said it was the "strongest" on record and warned that it could worsen in the coming days.
"The heat wave this time is prolonged, wide in scope, and strong in extremity," the statement read. "Taken all signs together, the heat wave in China will continue and its intensity will increase."
The heat wave has also registered the largest number of counties and cities exceeding 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit) since records began, according to the statement. The number of weather stations recording temperatures of 40C and above has reached 262, also the highest. Eight have hit 44C.
Persistently high temperatures are forecast to continue in the Sichuan Basin and large parts of central China until August 26.
A "special case" of high pressure from the West Pacific subtropical high, stretching across much of Asia, is likely to be the cause of the extreme heat, said Cai Wenju, climate researcher with CSIRO, Australia's national scientific research institute.
CNN's Larry Register, Angela Dewan and Laura He contributed to this report.
The "alarming" situation at a Russian-occupied nuclear power plant in southeastern Ukraine had reached a "grave hour," the head of the United Nations' nuclear watchdog said Thursday, as he called for an immediate inspection of the facility by international experts.
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi warned that parts of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant had been knocked out due to recent attacks, risking an "unacceptable" potential radiation leak.
"IAEA experts believe that there is no immediate threat to nuclear safety," but "that could change at any moment," Grossi said.
"Any military action jeopardizing nuclear safety, nuclear security, must stop immediately," he added. "These military actions near to such a large nuclear facility could lead to very serious consequences."
Ukraine and Russia blame each other: The Zaporizhzhia facility — the largest nuclear plant in Europe — occupies an extensive site on the Dnipro river near the Russian-occupied city of Enerhodar. It has continued operating at reduced capacity since Russian forces captured it early in March, with Ukrainian technicians remaining at work.
Russia and Ukraine have so far been unwilling to agree to an IAEA inspection of the plant and have accused each other of shelling the facility — action the IAEA has said breaches "indispensable nuclear safety and security pillars."
Russia's UN Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia on Thursday blamed Ukraine for the shelling and urged Kyiv's supporters to stop attacks and prevent a disastrous radiation leak.
But Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky pointed the finger at Moscow, which he said was putting all of Europe in danger.
"Only the complete withdrawal of Russians from the territory of the Zaporizhzhia NPP and the restoration of Ukraine's full control over the situation around the plant will guarantee the restoration of nuclear safety for all of Europe," Zelensky said.
More shelling: Ukraine's nuclear agency Energoatom said 10 shells landed near the complex on Thursday, preventing a shift handover.
"For the safety of nuclear workers, the buses with the personnel of the next shift were turned back to Enerhodar," the agency said. "Until the situation finally normalizes, the workers of the previous shift will continue to work."
Energoatom said radiation levels at the site remained normal, despite renewed attacks.
Read the full story here.
PARIS
French authorities on Tuesday will move ahead with an ambitious rescue mission for the beluga whale that has been trapped in the Seine River for a week now, local media reported.
The animal swam upstream from the English Channel after having wandered far from its pod, Franceinfo reported.
Reports from experts suggest that the whale was alert but had not eaten for days.
Sea Shepherd France, a non-profit group working for the protection of the oceans, has been keeping watch by boat over the whale for the last week.
The group will attempt to extract the whale from the water assisted by local police, fire fighters and other officials.
The plan is to catch the beluga in a net, lift him by a crane, and place him in a truck at which point he will be transported to another seawater location for a few days to be examined and cared for, then released back into the sea.
The whale is, however, presently 130 kilometers (80.77 miles) from any coast.
Tricky operation
What makes the operation harder is that there is no vehicle accessibility on the banks of the river where the whale is.
Lamya Essemlali, president of Sea Shepherd France, told Franceinfo the rescue operation will be “particularly sensitive and heavy in logistics.”
She acknowledged the urgent need to feed the whale and get him hydrated.
“We have two former whale keepers with us, but it’s unclear how the beluga will react. Feeding a cetacean in captivity is one thing, it’s another with a wild animal,” Essemlali added.
In a tweet on Friday, Sea Shepherd said: “The animal is extremely emaciated.”
Attempts to feed him have been made over the last week, with dead herring, then live trout, even vitamin substances tossed into the water, but the beluga has not consumed anything, the non-profit group added.
Belugas are found most near the Svalbard archipelago, a cluster of islands between Norway and the North Pole or in the St. Lawrence River in Quebec, Canada.
Health hazard
The warmer temperatures of the Seine are harmful to the beluga's health. So is swimming in freshwater.
The operation also must be carried out, authorities say, as quickly as possible to sustain the whale’s life.
Despite plans for the very risky operation and the whale’s precarious state, Gerard Mauger, vice-president of the Cotentin Cetacean Study Group (GECC), told Franceinfo the beluga “is a well-toned animal, which spends very little time on the surface and performs long apneas” a temporary suspension of breathing in which the whale is submerged.
The deep dives, Mauger said, are a sign that his lung capacity “remains good.”
Mauger added, however, that catching the whale will be tricky.
“Even trying to approach him very carefully, it’s difficult. He makes a lot of changes of direction,” he added.
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Twenty-four people have been confirmed dead after a bus plunged 40 metres off a bridge into the Nithi River in central Kenya.
The accident occurred along the busy Meru-Nairobi highway when the 57-seat bus at a high speed on a steep slope crashed into the guardrails of the bridge and lost control, tumbling into the river, police said on Sunday.
The bus, belonging to Modern Coast bus services, was heading for the coastal town of Mombasa from the Meru town when the accident occurred at around 6 pm local time.
Tharaka Nithi County Rescue team manager, Alex Mugambi, spoke to the media at the site of the accident and noted that "rescue efforts are under way and locals have been really helpful" during the search and rescue operations.
"I cannot ascertain the number of people who were inside the bus, but for now, the figures that I can give you is that 24 people have been confirmed dead in that accident, and the doctors and the medics are trying to save some lives of those critically injured."
Mugambi, who is leading the operation alongside emergency services and the police, also added that the injured had been rushed to the Chogoria and Chuka County referral hospitals.
Blackspot for drivers
The Nithi River bridge has been a blackspot for many years and drivers have been warned to slow down when passing through the area.
At least 20 passengers were killed on July 8 in a crash along the highway from Nairobi to the coastal city of Mombasa.
Last year, five people were killed after their minibus plunged into the river at the same location injuring many others, while last month, one passenger was killed at the same location.
In 2015, three people were killed at the same spot after a bus belonging to Sunbird Company plunged into the Nithi River bridge, and dozens were injured in the accident.
Source: TRTWorld and agencies
