Italy’s worst drought in decades has reduced its largest lake to near its lowest level ever recorded.
Tourists arriving at Lake Garda this weekend were greeted to swaths of previously underwater rocks extending far from the waterline.
“We came last year, we liked it, and we came back this year,” tourist Beatrice Masi said as she sat on the rocks. “We found the landscape had changed a lot. We were a bit shocked when we arrived, because we had our usual walk around, and the water wasn’t there.”
Northern Italy hasn’t seen significant rainfall for months, and snowfall this year was down 70%, drying up important waterways.
Many European countries — including Spain, Germany, Portugal, France and the Netherlands – are also enduring droughts this summer that have crippled their farming and shipping industries and promoted authorities to restrict water use. In France, the drought has forced the first halt to production of a famed cheesecrafted for over 2,000 years.
People sunbathing on the exposed rocks on the lakefront. AP
Tourists were shocked by the shoreline’s noticeably changed appearance. APWith Post wires
