Residents of Honduras' capital faced worsening water shortages as prolonged drought linked to El Niño drastically reduced levels in major reservoirs supplying Tegucigalpa, forcing authorities to intensify rationing measures.

Drone footage captured by Reuters on August 6 showed visibly low levels at Los Laureles and Concepcion reservoirs, two primary water sources for the city, while residents in affected neighborhoods lined up with buckets as municipal tanker trucks distributed emergency water supplies.

Julio Cesar Quinones, risk management director for Tegucigalpa's municipal government, said the city experienced an unprecedented 24 consecutive days without rain in May, contributing to significant water deficits and reduced reservoir capacity affecting approximately half the metropolitan area's 1.7 million residents.

Francisco Argenal, director of Honduras' National Center for Atmospheric, Oceanic and Seismic Studies (CENAOS), warned that El Nino conditions are expected to persist until early 2027, possibly mid-year, requiring continued water conservation even after rains return.

According to the U.S. Climate Prediction Center, the current El Niño event is increasingly likely to reach an intensity not seen in 76 years of records, posing growing threats to food security across Central America's Dry Corridor, a region spanning southern Mexico through Nicaragua that encompasses 10.5 million people, with nearly 60% living in poverty.

DESCRIPCIÓN DE IMÁGENES

Honduras capital faces water crisis as El Niño drives reservoirs to historic lows

VIDEO SHOWS: DRONE FOOTAGE SHOWING RESERVOIR WITH LOW WATER LEVELS / RESIDENTS COLLECTING WATER FROM TANKER TRUCKS / RESIDENT DAYSI SANCHEZ SPEAKING / RISK MANAGEMENT DIRECTOR JULIO CESAR QUINONES SPEAKING / CENAOS DIRECTOR FRANCISCO ARGENAL SPEAKING

SHOWS: TEGUCIGALPA, HONDURAS (AUGUST 6, 2026) (REUTERS - Access all)

1. (MUTE) VARIOUS DRONE SHOTS OF RESERVOIR WITH LOW WATER LEVELS

2. GAUGE SHOWING WATER LEVELS

3. RESERVOIR WATER LEVEL

4. RESIDENT OF NEIGHBOURHOOD AFFECTED BY WATER SHORTAGE ARRANGING BUCKETS

TEGUCIGALPA, HONDURAS (AUGUST 11, 2026) (REUTERS - Access all)

5. RESIDENT HOLDING BUCKETS

6. VARIOUS OF WATER SYSTEM EMPLOYEES FILLING TUBS AND BUCKETS

7. (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) RESIDENT OF NEIGHBOURHOOD AFFECTED BY WATER SHORTAGE, DAYSI SANCHEZ, SAYING:

"In many neighborhoods, there's no water and it's worrying because I remember that many years ago, like six or seven years ago, the situation was like this - we were running after the trucks and we could never find water, and it seems that this year we're going down the same path."

8. WATER TANKER TRUCK ARRIVING AT NEIGHBOURHOOD

9. WATER SYSTEM EMPLOYEE FILLING BUCKETS

10. EMPTY CISTERN

11. DIRTY DISHES IN TUBS

12. RESIDENT, KENSY BANEGAS, WATCHING WATER SYSTEM EMPLOYEES

13. (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) RESIDENT OF NEIGHBOURHOOD AFFECTED BY WATER SHORTAGE, KENSY BANEGAS, SAYING:

"We're a neighborhood where this affects us quite a bit because when there are droughts, the reservoirs start to dry up and all that, and sometimes the trucks don't... Well, if we order water they say the reservoir is drying up so we have a shortage and we don't know where to turn."

14. CISTERN WITH LOW WATER LEVEL

15. WATER TAP

16. (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) RESIDENT OF NEIGHBOURHOOD AFFECTED BY WATER SHORTAGE, MARIA OLIVA, SAYING:

"Here the water is very, very difficult. Well, in order to get water supply, I call a tanker truck to fill up for me, and water is very critical, and as more years go by they keep raising the price of water because they say there isn't enough water to be able to give to the population."

TEGUCIGALPA, HONDURAS (AUGUST 6, 2026) (REUTERS - Access all)

17. RISK MANAGEMENT DIRECTOR OF TEGUCIGALPA MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENT, JULIO CESAR QUINONES, SHOWING SCREEN WITH WATER LEVEL MEASUREMENTS

18. SCREEN

19. (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) RISK MANAGEMENT DIRECTOR OF TEGUCIGALPA MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENT, JULIO CESAR QUINONES, SAYING:

"The El Niño phenomenon is making us pay a very high price. We have a very low start to the rainy season without a phenomenon that generated a quite significant water deficit, so relevant that never in history had we had a month of May that went 24 days without rain, and that happened to us this year. Therefore, it generated a situation with the reservoirs - a quite significant reduction due to the consumption that exists, and today we are truly feeling that reduction in the reservoir."

20. VARIOUS OF RESERVOIR WITH LOW WATER LEVELS

21. (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) RISK MANAGEMENT DIRECTOR OF TEGUCIGALPA MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENT, JULIO CESAR QUINONES, SAYING:

"We have to help supply them with water because they normally buy from tanker trucks, but because access to water is so difficult right now, the cost has been increasing, therefore their ability to purchase has been diminishing, so we have to increase. So what are we talking about with this data that I mention - that practically half the city is being affected by this problem."

TEGUCIGALPA, HONDURAS (AUGUST 11, 2026) (REUTERS - Access all)

22. VARIOUS OF NATIONAL DIRECTOR OF ATMOSPHERIC, OCEANIC AND SEISMIC AFFAIRS (CENAOS), FRANCISCO ARGENAL, SHOWING METEOROLOGICAL DROUGHT SCREEN

23. (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) NATIONAL DIRECTOR OF ATMOSPHERIC, OCEANIC AND SEISMIC AFFAIRS (CENAOS), FRANCISCO ARGENAL, SAYING:

"The measure that the municipal government is taking through the water and sanitation unit, we believe is the most correct - they are rationing with a somewhat severe calendar, let's say, but it's necessary to be able to guarantee that we will have water availability while the rains begin, and precisely also not only to remember that it starts to rain and we have to forget about rationing, because we have to save water for the next dry season, since we're going, since the El Niño phenomenon is forecast to practically continue until early next year, or it could even be until mid-next year."

24. HOUSES OF RESIDENTS IN NEIGHBOURHOOD AFFECTED BY WATER SHORTAGE

25. WATER TANKER TRUCK

TEGUCIGALPA, HONDURAS (AUGUST 6, 2026) (REUTERS - Access all)

26. VARIOUS OF PEOPLE RIDING HORSE WITH EMPTY CANISTERS NEXT TO RESERVOIR

27. (MUTE) VARIOUS DRONE SHOTS OF RESERVOIR WITH LOW WATER LEVELS