Ghost Towns in Hellish 40 Degrees: Empty Streets from Rijeka to Osijek
A combination of a national holiday, summer vacations, and unbearable heat has emptied Croatian cities, while in Baranja the dried-up Danube left boats stranded on dry land.
A combination of a national holiday, summer vacations, and unbearable heat has emptied Croatian cities, while in Baranja the dried-up Danube left boats stranded on dry land.
Croatia was hit by a heatwave on Victory and Homeland Thanksgiving Day and the Day of Croatian Defenders, August 5, 2026, with temperatures reaching 40 degrees. The combination of hellish heat, a holiday, and the vacation season resulted in almost eerily empty streets in many cities, turning them into veritable ghost towns.
In Rijeka, the scenes were particularly striking. Numerous city streets and squares remained almost completely devoid of people and traffic. Most citizens took advantage of the day off to escape to the sea, nature, or simply to rest in the shade, leaving the city center unusually quiet. Photographer Nel Pavletić of the Pixsell agency captured images of Rijeka's roads and squares rarely seen during the year.
A similar picture came from Osijek, where Pixsell photojournalists found equally deserted streets. However, perhaps the most dramatic scenes come from the far northeast of the country. In Batina, Baranja, on the banks of the Danube, photographs bear witness to the effects of the drought. Boats were left abandoned on dry land, at the mercy of the river's dried-up bed.
The Pixsell agency sent its photographers, including David Jerković and Nel Pavletić, into the field precisely to document the impact of extreme heat on daily life across Croatia. Their photographs present a striking contrast between the usually lively urban centers and their current, almost ghostly appearance.
