Water levels on the Danube River, the second longest in Europe, have plunged due to drought and extreme heat, exposing the hulls of dozens of German WWII warships. The remains of an ancient mammoth were also uncovered in Romania. In Germany, fishing boats are stuck near the banks of the Rhine, and sections of France's Loire riverbed are partially dry.

Images show a man walking on a sandbank near wreckage of a German warship in Serbia on August 4, 2026. Scientists from Rousse's Regional Historical Museum examined mammoth remains near Ryahovo, south of Bucharest, on July 30. The Romanian Navy detonated underwater explosives to improve water flow amid exceptionally low levels.

Boats in a marina near Apatin, Serbia, were left stranded on dry ground. A frog floated in a puddle in an area usually submerged. A former eel fishing boat covered in dried mud sat near the banks of the Rhine in Neuss, Germany. A plant sprout emerged from dried-out soil of the Loire riverbed in Chécy, and visitors bathed on sandbars in Orléans.