As thousands of dead fish neared the banks of the Oder River in the village of Widuchowa in western Poland on Aug. 11, local residents realized an ecological disaster that started in late July in the country's southwest was heading toward the Baltic Sea.
As Widuchowa's residents searched for tools to remove the lifeless bodies from the the river, the government began a crisis response that many scientists say came too late.
"It's been the hardest five days of my life," said Pawel Wrobel, the mayor of Widuchowa, which is around 400 kilometers from the town where dead fish had first been spotted. "I'd never imagined experiencing such a catastrophe, it is something you see in disaster movies."