A goose looks for water in the dried bed of Lake Velence in Velence, Hungary, on Aug. 11. With soaring temperatures and scant rain, Europe is facing its worst drought in 500 years. Photo: VCG

Boats lay on the dried lakebed in a port in Velence on Aug. 11. The water level in Lake Velence, a popular tourist spot near Budapest, is at its lowest level since 1949. Photo: VCG

People stand on what was an ancient packhorse bridge exposed at Baitings Reservoir in Yorkshire, on Aug. 12. Low water levels at the reservoir expose the remains of the ancient crossing flooded to build the reservoir in the 1950s. Photo: VCG

A barge sails along the parched River Rhine on Thursday in Gelderland, the Netherlands. Water levels of Rhine have continued to drop, halting transport along the waterway in European countries, such as Germany and the Netherlands. Photo: VCG

The previously underwater rocks of the peninsula of Sirmione on northern Italy’s Lake Garda exposed on Tuesday. The water level of Italy’s largest lake has been receding as the country experiences its most severe drought in 70 years. Photo: VCG

The water level of Serre-Ponçon lake, the largest reservoir in France, is 14 meters below the optimum level on Tuesday due to droughts in the Alps. Photo: VCG

A puddle amid the nearly dried-up riverbed of the Rhine in Cologne, western Germany, on July 18. The Rhine is Western Europe’s most important waterway for the transport of products including coal and grain. Photo: VCG

Part of the Guadiana River has dried up, leaving a medieval bridge in Villarta de los Montes, in the central-western Spanish region of Extremadura, standing over scorched earth, on Tuesday. Photo: VCG

Sheep walk beside a pool and graze by the dry riverbed of the Guadiana River on Tuesday. Spain is suffering a historic drought, after the country saw record-high temperatures in July. Photo: VCG

Due to low rainfall, Poland’s sixth longest river, the San, was rapidly shrinking as of July 17, shown in the country’s southeastern village of Rajskie. Over half of Poland was at serious risk of drought, according to Polish Waters, a state agency, in early July. Photo: IC Photo

A “hunger stone,” one of the oldest hydrological monuments in Central Europe, appeared in Decin, Czech Republic on Thursday, after the water level of the Elbe River dropped. Historically, it was used to indicate bad harvests and famine during droughts. Photo: VCG