Budapest’s ‘Rock of Starvation’ resurfaces amid extreme Danube drought

A rock that spends most of the year beneath the Danube has resurfaced in Budapest, providing a striking sign of the river’s exceptionally low level during a severe 2026 drought. Known as Ínség-szikla, or the “Rock of Starvation,” the formation historically appeared when falling water levels threatened poor harvests, food shortages and hunger. Phys.org reports that its return this August reflects a drought that developed gradually across the Danube basin rather than a sudden change at the river itself. Researchers Peter Burek and Emilio Politti of the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis examined more than three decades of climate and hydrological data. Their analysis found that rainfall from April through July 2026 was well below the 1990–2025 average across much of the basin. The dry conditions began earlier than in several other notably dry years, including 2003, 2007 and 2022. June also brought substantially more days above 30 degrees Celsius across large parts of the region. The researchers identified a warming trend in basin-wide records from 1990 through 2026, while noting that the combination of heat and limited rain intensified this year’s developing drought. The effects first appeared in the soil. Although February was relatively wet, soil moisture declined from March onward. By July, extreme shortages affected most of the Danube basin. The IIASA analysis identified 2026 as the basin’s second-driest year for July soil moisture since 1990, behind 2003. In Austria, Czechia and Hungary, however, July conditions were more severe than those recorded in July 2003. The drought eventually reached the river system. Modeling showed that July’s minimum flows in the Danube and most of its tributaries were the most extreme in the researchers’ records, surpassing the major hydrological drought of 2003. Satellite images taken five days apart in August also showed the river retreating near Budapest. The lower levels are already linked to disruption in shipping, energy and water shortages, damage to agriculture, pressure on aquatic ecosystems and the shutdown of a nuclear power plant, Phys.org reports. More than 80 million people live in the Danube basin, which depends on the river for transport, industry, energy, farming and ecosystems. IIASA researchers are scheduled to update the analysis in September with data covering August.