"Never Seen Anything Like This": Half of Rivers Dry Up, Threatening Nuclear Power Plants with Shutdowns

This is Paris. Today (August 12) [Note: August 12, 2026], let us talk about the drought. Europe is currently parched to the bone. Even here in Paris, it is hard to remember when we last saw a proper rain. Crops are withering away due to an immediate shortage of usable water. Furthermore, nuclear power plants have been forced to halt operations because there is no cooling water available. Consequently, European cities have even resorted to turning off street lights at night to save electricity. France is facing the same crisis, and I went out last week to see just how severe the situation is.

1. Parched Cornfields and "Everything Burned to a Crisp"
What you are looking at now is a cornfield in central France. The wheat harvest has ended here, and corn farming is in full swing. However, the fields are severely cracked. The cracks were wide and deep enough to easily fit two fingers. There is simply no way the corn can form proper kernels. Very few ears have grown, and most of those have withered away. France forecasts that its corn harvest this year will hit an all-time low.

I also met a dairy farmer. The situation here was equally critical. The field you see now was originally a pasture for cattle. It was a grazing meadow, but the grass has completely vanished due to the drought. The farmer described it as being burned to a crisp, explaining that not a single piece of feed was left. As a result, they have no choice but to feed the cattle stored livestock feed. The problem, however, is that this is winter feed. Normally, because it is cold and devoid of grass in winter, cattle are fed indoors, but they are dipping into that reserve ahead of schedule. That supply is also hitting rock bottom, and the farmer stated that if the drought persists, they will have no choice but to use straw stockpiled for cattle bedding as a last resort. Feed meant to serve as the cattle's beds and blankets is being fed to them instead.

[Philippe / French Livestock Farmer : Right now, about 70 to 80 percent of French livestock farms are facing severe feed shortages as grass has disappeared from the pastures. We are having to dip into the hay meant for winter, so our reserves are running low.]

Even so, this farm is relatively well-prepared and managing with leftover feed. Nevertheless, 70 to 80 percent of farms in France are suffering from feed shortages. All of this stems from a lack of water.

2. "Never Seen This Before": 43% of Rivers Dried Up
So, I visited the Loire River. The Loire is the longest river in France. Unlike other European rivers, it has no dams and remains a natural river without dikes built to serve as canals. Consequently, the impact of the drought is felt immediately. Although water was still flowing, the water volume had halved in just a month. As a result, the riverbed was exposed in various places, and sightseeing boats that used to navigate the river had ground to a halt.

I met the owner of a sightseeing boat company. He explained that while water levels typically drop in August, making operations difficult, they had to suspend operations nearly a month earlier this year. The drought has arrived much earlier and with greater severity. He also noted that he had never seen the water level drop this low before.

[Denis Rimbaud / Tour Boat Operator : In fact, operating tour boats is simply impossible this year. This is truly unprecedented. A drought of this scale is historic.]

I also visited a spot where swimming was originally prohibited due to deep water and strong currents. Even after walking into the river for quite a distance, the water barely reached below my knees. France has a little over 3,000 rivers. Among them, more than 1,300 rivers have completely dried up or seen their watercourses severed. This phenomenon is known as river desiccation, and the French government has announced that 43 percent of rivers have become desiccated.

Given these circumstances, a state of emergency has been declared. France manages water shortages using a three-tier system. The most severe alert level is the crisis stage, and once designated as such, water usage is heavily restricted. Except for absolute essentials such as drinking water, sanitation, and medical use, even agricultural water use is curtailed. France is divided into administrative units similar to our provinces called departments, or départements in French. There are 96 such départements in mainland France. Out of those 96, crisis alerts have been issued in 67 départements. This does not mean the entirety of each département is restricted; rather, it means that parts within 67 of these administrative zones have received crisis warnings. This illustrates how severely the drought has spread across the entirety of France.

3. "Cracks Are Forming in My House… What Should I Do?"
The problem does not end merely with a water shortage. When I visited a village in central France, the local municipality was processing resident reports regarding building cracks caused by the drought.

[Aurore Caro / Mayor of Meung-sur-Loire : Our residents are currently in a state of high agitation. Inquiries are flooding our city hall asking, "Cracks are appearing in my house right now, what should we do?"]

When asked what this had to do with the drought, it was explained that in towns built over filled-in riverbanks or wetlands, the subsoil is made of clay rather than bedrock. The severe drought has dried out the ground deep below, causing the earth to shrink. This has led to structural cracks in houses, and the village town hall itself has suffered severe fractures, prompting the local government to apply for a disaster-zone designation.

4. Nuclear Plants Shut Down and Night Views Vanished
Among the impacts of this drought, one of the most critical is the energy crisis. Nuclear power generation is particularly problematic, as many European nations use river water to cool their reactors. Not only is there a shortage of water, but persistent heatwaves exceeding 40°C (104°F) have also warmed up the rivers. This means that even where cooling water exists, it lacks cooling capacity. Consequently, France has suspended operations at two nuclear power plants. Quite a few others have reduced their power output. The volume of electricity lost from curtailed nuclear production has hit an all-time high, with a strong likelihood of increasing further.

Even so, France is holding on because it operates nearly 60 reactors across 20 sites. However, Eastern European countries utilizing the waters of the Danube River are facing a much graver situation. Hungary has four nuclear power plants within its borders, which account for over half of the nation's electricity production. Three of those four plants have already been shut down, while the remaining one is barely managing to operate at a reduced output. Neighboring Romania is in an even worse state: one of its two reactors is completely shut down, and the other is on the verge of shutdown. The situation was so urgent that they resorted to underwater detonations to clear a path for the water flowing to the plants. Underwater bedrock, which normally posed no issues, blocked the waterways like a dam as water levels plummeted. To clear it, they mobilized 180 kg of explosives.

Because power plants cannot be operated properly, electricity supplies to public facilities are being cut first. As a result, the nighttime skyline, a symbol of Hungary's capital Budapest, has vanished. Romania has also declared a state of emergency, turning off all non-essential lighting. In the UK, half of the England region is experiencing drought conditions, with this summer's precipitation amounting to only 7 percent of normal years. While there are no immediate electricity rationing measures, the UK has suspended electricity exports to countries like the Netherlands.

The problem is that this year's European heatwave and drought, deemed the worst on record, are far from over. Another heatwave is hitting France this week. Projections indicate that this year's heatwaves and droughts will reduce the European Union's GDP by 1 percent, roughly 295 trillion KRW. Europe is already facing a situation where demands for spending are high while revenue sources are dwindling, and to make matters worse, the weather is offering no assistance.

(Reported by Kwon Yeongin | Produced by Shin Hee-suk | Video by Kim Si-nae | Video Editing by Na Hong-hee | Design by Lee Su-min | Produced by SBS Digital News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.