Rivers Disappearing in Drought-Stricken Amazon  

TreeHugger has a post on drought in the Amazon - Rivers Disappearing in Drought-Stricken Amazon.

In places throughout the Amazon, some stretches of the region's most important rivers and tributaries have dried up almost entirely, reducing the normally flowing waterways to a vast plain of broken clay and mud. For some people who live and work in this part of the world, life has come to a screeching halt amid the worst drought in recent memory. It is estimated that more than 62 thousand families have been affected by the lack of rainfall with over half the municipalities in the region having enacted a state of emergency. And, on the heels of a recent report about the global droughts to be expected due to climate change -- one can only wonder if such scenes will become more common elsewhere.

Throughout the affected state of Amazonia, rivers provide the only means of access to the outside world for families residing in the regions around the capital of Manaus. As the water ceases to flow because of the drought, these families are left stranded without the means to make a living.

According to officials, the level of the Amazon river will likely be lower than the previous recorded record set back in 1963 once final measurements are made.

One major waterway which runs along Manuas, the Rio Negro, hasn't been this low in the 108 years since recording began, reports Globo Amazonia. The economic impact on this region, one of poorest in Brazil, has been significant.

"Our community... is in a precarious situation. The river has dried up," said Josimar Peixoto, mayor of San Sebastian, a town which depends on the flowing Rio Negro. "With this, families are being harmed because they are without access to transportation."