{"id":110061,"date":"2026-07-30T15:56:14","date_gmt":"2026-07-30T15:56:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/110061\/"},"modified":"2026-07-30T15:56:14","modified_gmt":"2026-07-30T15:56:14","slug":"instagram-famous-lake-on-swiss-border-left-empty-by-brutal-heatwaves","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/110061\/","title":{"rendered":"Instagram famous lake on Swiss border left empty by brutal heatwaves"},"content":{"rendered":"

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A lake that is famed for it\u2019s beauty, often starring in tourists<\/a>\u2019 Instagram<\/a> snaps, has been left almost drained by a prolonged drought<\/a> across Europe<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Lake Brenets, a winding lake on the Swiss<\/a>-French border, is normally packed with campers, swimmers and canoeists in the summer.<\/p>\n

Boat companies also ferry thousands of tourists across it \u2060each summer season, but not this year.<\/p>\n

The lake has been left \u200bvirtually \u2060deserted as water levels in the River Doubs, which feeds it, have fallen sharply following months of scant rainfall<\/a> and three successive heatwaves, \u2060the latest of which is still under way.<\/p>\n

Dozens of boats are stranded high \u200band \u2060dry on the cracked mud, including “Jumbo”, \u200ca tourist vessel operated by Yvan Durig, owner of the Societe de Navigation des Brenets.<\/p>\n

“It’s hitting us hard because we’re powerless in the face of this \u200cphenomenon,” he said.<\/p>\n

\"AA French flag is pictured on a cliff at the nearly empty Lake Brenet, as drought conditions affecting the Doubs River lower water levels at the Swiss-French border in Les Brenets, Switzerland, July 30, 2026 (Reuters)<\/p>\n

Already, he has had \u200cto lay off his team and is concerned about making a loss for the year, with water levels now more than 9 metres (30 feet) below average and falling by around 22 centimetres (9 inches) \u2060a day.<\/p>\n

With rainfall about half of the usual levels since April, the MeteoSuisse weather agency says this year’s drought is comparable to some of the country’s worst in 1976, 2003 and 2018. Its long-term forecasts suggest below-normal rainfall will continue until mid-August.<\/p>\n

While the lake has experienced droughts in the past that have hit business, Durig said that their frequency has increased.<\/p>\n

\"YvanYvan Durig, owner of the Societe de Navigation des Brenets, poses in front of a moored boat on the nearly empty Lake Brenet, as drought conditions affecting the Doubs River lower water levels at the Swiss-French border in Les Brenets, Switzerland, July 30, 2026. REUTERS\/Denis Balibouse (Reuters)<\/p>\n

“These droughts are occurring in rapid \u200csuccession, something we’ve never seen before,” he said.<\/p>\n

The lake’s remaining water \u200bis brown and reduced to a thin central ribbon, where fish \u200care now confined and a couple \u2060of swans paddle. A nearby waterfall<\/a> that flows out of the \u2060lake, the Saut de Doubs, has virtually dried up, residents say.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s so beautiful when there\u2019s water, when \u200cit\u2019s flowing. It\u2019s an \u200bidyllic, wonderful place,” said Martial Beyeler, \u200ca 69-year-old resident. “It makes me sad to \u200bsee the place like this.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Your support helps us to tell the story From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":110062,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[4],"tags":[9873,15855,13971,2198,53591,17,9861,1630],"class_list":["post-110061","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-switzerland","tag-bestof","tag-drought","tag-essential","tag-horizontal","tag-rivers","tag-switzerland","tag-topix","tag-water"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ch\/117009749489256110","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110061","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=110061"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110061\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/110062"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=110061"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=110061"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=110061"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}