Party in the dry Danube riverbed: many call it a natural disaster

By Ács Gábor

Published on

09/08/2026 - 14:57 GMT+2

In Budapest, the emergence of the so-called Ínség-szikla (Famine Rock) by the Liberty Bridge signals that there is too little water in the Danube. The stretch of riverbed beneath the central pillar of Margaret Bridge is surfacing more and more often each year, and an ever-larger area is left dry.

Photographer Zsanett Zsebők shared a video on Facebook of a Saturday night pop-up party, unleashing a flood of comments. Those with a more relaxed outlook say a spontaneous party like this is very cool, even if it takes place on the dried-out central section of the Danube Riverbed. Others see it instead as a horrifying natural disaster that is increasingly reshaping summers in Europe, especially in Hungary.