A man pulls a boat through the shallow centre of a river near the community of São Francisco de Marina, cut off due to low-water levels in nearby rivers. Drought in the Amazon, especially in the Amazon, Negro and Solimões rivers, reached alarming levels by the end of the year before slightly recovering in January. The level of the Negro River in the port of Manaus reached 12.11 metres, compared to its normal level of around 21 metres. This is the lowest level recorded since measurements began 122 years ago

The community of São Francisco de Marina became almost completely isolated due to the drought. The floating houses ran aground, and the channels were so shallow that it was no longer possible to travel along them by boat

Roots of a tree exposed in an area usually under water near Puraquequara

Cordeiro Freitas helps his mother carry food from the dock of a local boat to their fishing community in Manacapuru, almost 2km away. Their district used to be on the river’s banks, but low water levels have exposed wide sandbanks that separate the fishing communities from the river

Families such as Cordeiro Freitas’s were hit hard by two years of severe drought in the Brazilian state of Amazonas. The return of rainfall in the ‘Amazon winter’ of 2025 has brought signs of recovery, but the riverside communities still face the repercussions of the crisis

Janderson Lima, 27, lives with his family in Manacapuru in Amazonas. Their boat is damaged and needs repairs worth around 6,000 reais (about £800), four times the country’s minimum wage

Elidia Carolina, 19, lives in a floating house with her partner and their two-year-old daughter. Due to the droughts and falling water levels, the area around their home resembles a desert. They have to walk almost 2km to reach the shore of the Solimões River

A boat on the remaining water in the Puraquequara River, one of the tributaries of the Negro River. Many formerly floating houses in local communities are damaged

A group of Manacapuru fishers walk along the Solimões River’s dry riverbed

Residents of Manacapuru walk along the riverbed of the Solimões River

A resident of Manacapuru walks along the dry riverbed near the shore of the Solimões River in October. On 14 January, the Geological Service of Brazil (SGB) estimated that the rainfall at the end of December and January surpassed expectations. Rainfall rates are finally approaching normal levels for this time of year

A fisher searches for fish in one of the narrow channels of a tributary of the Negro River

The remains of a boat that ran aground in 2023 due to low water levels in the Negro River

Boats float on small ponds formed by the retreating waters of the Solimões River

A stranded houseboat in the Lago do Catalão community along the Negro River

A fisher next to his boat on the dry riverbed of the Negro River. The water levels have fallen to the lowest levels ever recorded, leaving the whole fishing fleet stranded on the riverbank

Alexi, 11, plays underneath the formerly floating house where he lives in the Cacau Pirêra district on the opposite bank of the Negro River to Manaus. During the extreme drought, his family’s house lived on dry land due to the low levels of water in the river

An aerial view of the Solimões River’s dry areas in the Manacapuru region