Crops and drinking water threatened in Italy's Po Valley amid worst drought in 70 years
A part of northern Italy is in the grip of its worst drought for 70 years.
With barely any rainfall for 110 days, River Po, the country's largest, is three metres lower on average and is turning into an expanse of sand.
The drought -- the worst since 1952 according to the Po Basin Authority -- is having unprecedented effects: drinking water is being rationed in 125 municipalities across the region and crop irrigation threatened in the most densely populated and intensively farmed area of the country. Lake Maggiore is close to its lowest level since 1946.
"In some territories, it has not rained for 110 days," said Meuccio Berselli, secretary-general of the Po River District Authority.
"Tanker trucks are already in action to supply water because local reservoirs are linked to springs that are no longer there."
The 652-kilometre River Po -- which runs from Venice to Turin -- so low, that fishermen are now able to walk in the middle of where water used to flow.
With a flow rate currently six times lower than the seasonal June level and a water level four metres below the Po's hydrometric zero, fishermen are now able to walk to the middle of the river on dry land.
Hidden since 1943 beneath the water at the Internati island natural park near Gualtieri, a WW2 shipwreck has now resurfaced.
The 50-metre-long Zibello barge used to transport wood before it was sunk during the war.
"It is the first time that we can see this barge. Due to the scarce water and the drought the level of the water is so low. In the past years we could not see it," says Raffaele Vezzali, a local cyclist.
Berselli added: "We are in a situation where the river flow here is approximately 300 cubic metres per second. Normally in this area, we have almost 1,800
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