Amazon’s Manaus port hits record low amid drought

The river port in the Amazon rainforest's largest city of Manaus hit its lowest level since 1902, as a drought drains waterways and snarls transport of grain exports and essential supplies that are the region's lifeline.

Below-average rainfall - even through the rainy season - has plagued the Amazon and much of South America since last year, also feeding the worst wildfires in more than a decade in Brazil and Bolivia. Researchers say climate change is the main culprit.

Valmir Mendonca, the port's head of operations, said water levels were at their lowest in over 120 years of measurement, and that the river level is likely to keep falling for another week or two.

With the region never fully recovering due to weaker-than-usual seasonal rains, many of the impacts of the drought last year look set to repeat or reach new extremes.

The Port of Manaus measured the Rio Negro river at 12.66 meters, according to its website, surpassing the previous all-time low recorded last year and still falling rapidly.

The Rio Negro is a major tributary of the Amazon River, the world's largest river by volume. The port sits near the "meeting of the waters" where the black water of the Negro meets the sandy-colored Solimoes, which also hit a record low this week.

Grain shipments have been halted on the Madeira River, another tributary of the Amazon, because of low water levels, a port association said last month.

National disaster monitoring agency Cemaden has already called the drought Brazil's worst such event since at least the 1950s.

The drought has also sapped hydropower plants, Brazil's main source of electricity. Energy authorities have approved bringing back daylight savings time to conserve electricity, although the measure still requires presidential approval.

The extreme weather and dryness is affecting much of South America, with the Paraguay River also at an all-time low.

Scientists predict the Amazon region may not fully recover moisture levels until 2026.