Article · Aug 16, 2026

Destroyed crops, riverbed cyclists and a ‘Rock of Starvation’: how drought has devastated the Danube

The Guardian travelled 100 miles along the EU’s longest river, where some residents are struggling to secure drinking water For centuries, the rock was seen as a warning. And, much as the rock was said to warn, Hungary is now facing an unprecedented energy crisis that has forced the country to shut down all but one of its Danube-cooled nuclear reactors for the first time in 44 years.