The Amazon River has seen its levels in Colombia drop by 90 percent, a government agency said Thursday, as South America faces a severe and widespread drought.
The river — the world’s largest by volume and flowing through parts of Brazil, Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador, Venezuela, Guyana, French Guiana and Suriname — has been hit hard by a drought that has seen wildfires spread across the continent.
“Water levels have dropped between 80 and 90 percent in the past three months due to drought caused by climate change,” Colombia’s National Unit for Disaster Risk Management (UNGRD) said in a statement.
The lack of water has particularly affected the indigenous communities who rely on the river for food and transport, it added.
AFP has seen boats around Leticia, the capital of the southern state of Amazonas, in recent days, with large areas of land exposed to low water.
The city, near the borders of Brazil and Peru, is an important trading point along the Amazon River.
Residents say this is the worst drought in 50 years.
The Europeans Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service said this week that wildfire activity in South America this year is “above average” especially in the Amazon region and the Pantanal wetlands.
Fires are burning in Colombia, Peru, Ecuador, Brazil and Bolivia.
Ecuador, which depends on hydroelectric power, is facing the worst power shortages in its worst drought in six decades, and has initiated blackouts and put 20 of its 24 states on alert.
In Brazil, thick clouds of smoke enveloped major cities such as Brasilia, Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo, with smoke sometimes drifting across the border into Argentina and Uruguay.
Colombia’s capital Bogota has been providing municipal water for months.
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