Data compiled by the Civil Defense of Amazonas has shown a worsening of the drought and the approaching of the scenario to extreme moments of drought – at the worst water levels in historical measurements – in rivers that are the heart of this portion of the Amazon.
The realities are diverse, just as there are different Amazons, but the data gathered by Civil Defense and analysis carried out by research and monitoring institutes point to a drought close to extremes in the upper and middle sections of the Solimões River, in the lower Negro River (where Manaus is located) and the Madeira River.
These regions are where the most visible consequences of the drought have occurred so far. Communities found themselves isolated in Tabatinga (AM) and Benjamin Constant (AM). In the lake where Tefé (AM) is located, more than 120 botos and tucuxis (types of river dolphins) died in ten days.
In Manaus, the banks of the Negro River have been closed. Along the Madeira River, the Santo Antônio hydroelectric plant, the fourth largest in the country, has suspended its operations.
The tendency is for the ebb of the rivers to keep going through November, according to researchers interviewed by Folha – in previous Octobers, the end of the drought usually occurred in the second half of the month.
Translated by Cassy Dias