Europe is blowing up riverbeds as an extreme drought wreaks havoc on its economy

An aerial view shows a former eel fishing boat covered in dried mud among on low water among the banks of the river Rhine near Neuss, western Germany, on July 30, 2026, as the water level in the Rhine is falling to a record low following exceptionally hot weather.Ina Fassbender | Afp | Getty ImagesThe drought in Europe is so severe that it is jeopardizing countries' economic growth and forcing them to take extreme measures like blowing up riverbeds.Gripped by a summer of weather extremes, Romania recently shut down its sole working nuclear reactor cooled by the Danube for the first time, with Bucharest even deploying naval forces to carry out underwater detonations to improve water flow.Images published Monday showed the Romanian navy blasting rocks in controlled explosions in Izvoarele village as part of a push to divert a higher volume of water toward the cooling systems of the Cernavoda Nuclear Power Plant. Low water levels on the Danube have also threatened to close Hungary's Paks nuclear plant, which supplies around 40% of the country's electricity, and forced Serbia to cut hydropower generation.Why low Rhine levels threaten Germany's economyIn Germany, the water levels on the...