With the river too shallow for freight, a nuclear plant almost offline and big firms ordered to curb power use, Hungary’s heatwave is rippling straight into citizens’ jobs, bills and fears of blackouts.

Europe’s brutal heat wave has already sparked record-breaking temperatures, deadly wildfires and mass evacuations. Now a new crisis looms: an energy shortage.

Drought is keeping Central Europe on alert, with nuclear power plants at minimum capacity, also affecting agriculture and transportation.