Poland is facing a worsening drought with major rivers at record lows and another heatwave pushing temperatures towards 40 degrees Celsius in the country's south.

Poland will likely be hit with the worst drought the country has seen in years, Warsaw hydrologist at the Institute of Meteorology and Water Management (IMGW), Pawel Staniszewski, said on Tuesday (August 04).

The San River in the polish city of Stalowa Wola fell to a record low level last week, prompting local authorities to impose restrictions on industrial water use. Low water levels were also visible on the Vistula River.

"In all my 70 years, I've never seen the water level this low. Today you could walk across it in shorts, whereas years ago the water would be up to your neck," 70-year-old pensioner Edward Gazda said. Grass was growing in places it had never done before he said.

Staniszewski said southern Poland was particularly affected, but there were drought alerts in place across the country and unusually low river flows recorded at hundreds of monitoring stations. Warning that shrinking river levels could create problems for agriculture, industry and infrastructure, and adding that a lack of steady rainfall, rather than heat alone, was driving the drought.

DESCRIPCIÓN DE IMÁGENES

Poland to face worst drought in years, says expert, as residents say levels never been this low

VIDEO SHOWS: DRONE VIEWS OF SANDBANKS APPEARING ALONG VISTULA RIVER AMID HEATWAVE AND DROUGHT / COMMENTS FROM HYDROLOGIST / COMMENTS FROM LOCAL

RESENDING WITH COMPLETE SCRIPT

SHOWS: WARSAW, POLAND (AUGUST 4, 2026) (REUTERS - Access all)

1. VARIOUS DRONE AERIALS OF CLOSE TO RECORD LOW WATER LEVELS IN VISTULA RIVER, SANDBANKS (MUTE)

2. (SOUNDBITE) (English) HYDROLOGIST AT THE INSTITUTE OF METEOROLOGY AND WATER MANAGEMENT, PAWEL STANISZEWSKI, SAYING:

“The next weeks, even two months, is going to be showing us how deep the drought is going to be in this year, but probably I would like to say that it's going to be worse than the last years.”

3. DRONE AERIAL OF A TREE LOG IN THE DRIED-UP RIVERBED OF THE VISTULA (MUTE)

4.(SOUNDBITE) (ENGLISH) HYDROLOGIST AT THE INSTITUTE OF METEOROLOGY AND WATER MANAGEMENT, PAWEL STANISZEWSKI, SAYING:

“The south part of Poland is very dry. We have 71 alerts, dry alerts in all Poland. And at 320 water stations we have really low flow on the rivers. Even in 30 water stations we have the lowest ever level of the river.“

5. VARIOUS DRONE AERIALS OF CLOSE TO RECORD LOW WATER LEVELS IN VISTULA RIVER (MUTE)

6. (SOUNDBITE) (English) HYDROLOGIST AT THE INSTITUTE OF METEOROLOGY AND WATER MANAGEMENT, PAWEL STANISZEWSKI, SAYING:

“There is going to be a huge problem because the low level of the rivers is coming... a step of the next problems with agriculture, with factories, with infrastructure.”

7. DRONE AERIAL OF CLOSE TO RECORD LOW WATER LEVELS IN VISTULA RIVER (MUTE)

8. (SOUNDBITE) (English) HYDROLOGIST AT THE INSTITUTE OF METEOROLOGY AND WATER MANAGEMENT, PAWEL STANISZEWSKI, SAYING:

“We're not ready, the climate is changing very fast. Now in Poland the climate is like 30 years ago in Budapest, like in Hungary, so we should be ready and prepare ourselves.”

9. DRONE AERIAL OF A TREE LOGS IN THE DRIED-UP RIVERBED OF THE VISTULA (MUTE)

10. (SOUNDBITE) (English) HYDROLOGIST AT THE INSTITUTE OF METEOROLOGY AND WATER MANAGEMENT, PAWEL STANISZEWSKI, SAYING:

“Not maybe only heat waves is the problem, but we just lack, we have a lack of the rainfalls. And when I said -when we have rainfalls, they are mostly stormy. So short, quick and rapid - so we need like a couple of days, no more, of more casual rain.”

STALOWA WOLA, POLAND (JUNE 30, 2026) (REUTERS - Access all)

11. VARIOUS DRONE SHOTS OF SAN RIVER AT IT’S HISTORICAL LOW LEVEL (MUTE)

12. LOCAL RESIDENT, EDWARD GAZDA, SITTING BY THE RIVER BANKS

13. (SOUNDBITE) (Polish) 70-YEAR-OLD PENSIONER, EDWARD GAZDA, SAYING:

"In all my 70 years, I've never seen the water level this low. Today you could walk across it in shorts, whereas years ago the water would be up to your neck."

14. WOMAN WALKING A DOG IN THE DRIED-UP RIVERBED OF THE SAN RIVER

15. (SOUNDBITE) (Polish) 70-YEAR-OLD PENSIONER, EDWARD GAZDA, SAYING:

"You see over there? Grass is growing now. You couldn't see that before, but now there's simply no water."

16. YOUTH LOOKING AT THE SAN RIVER

17. (SOUNDBITE) (Polish) 70-YEAR-OLD PENSIONER, EDWARD GAZDA, SAYING:

"If there is no rainfall for much longer, factories will have to stop, power plants too. Everything depends on water."

18. VARIOUS DRONE SHOTS OF STALOWA WOLA (MUTE)

19. TREE BRANCH IN SHALLOW SAN RIVER WATERS

20. VARIOUS DRONE SHOTS OF SAN RIVER AT IT’S HISTORICAL LOW LEVEL (MUTE)