When Europe’s waterways run dry

The wreck of a fishing boat that sunk in 1996, seen here in Dormagen, Germany, is one of several long-submerged relics exposed by the Rhine’s low water levels. — Patrick Junker/The New York Times

FEROCIOUS heat waves, wildfires and freakish storms have pulverised Europe this summer.

Now a series of droughts, magnified by climate change, has crippled some of the continent’s key waterways, bringing further economic pressure on a region struggling with stagnating growth and fierce global competition.