Europe is facing the worst drought in five centuries. Details

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Europe's worst drought in 500 years
point.md
21:45, 27.08.2022

17% of the European continent is on the verge of complete drying up.



The situation is difficult on 47% of the continent, namely in such countries as Italy, Spain, Portugal, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, Romania, Hungary, Serbia, Ukraine, Moldova, Ireland and the United Kingdom. This was reported in the Joint Research Center of the European Commission.

In the UK, where drought has been officially declared in several regions, the leaves on the trees have already acquired a chestnut hue in August. Trees “perceive” a catastrophic lack of moisture as an early arrival of autumn, the report says.

Scientists have said that drought could lead to forest fires and affect crops.

We see that the number of forest fires is much higher than average and has a serious impact on the crop. Undoubtedly, global climate change is becoming more and more noticeable every year,” the research center is sure.

Compared with the averages for the previous five years, EU forecasts for this year's grain corn crop will be 16% lower, soybeans - 15%, sunflower - 12% lower, the scientists said.

According to ecologists, almost all the rivers of Europe have dried up to one degree or another. They became so shallow that the so-called "hungry stones" appeared on the surface - these are stones with inscriptions that appear above the water during the most severe droughts, when the rivers become much shallower.

Severe drought was observed in many countries throughout the year, but the situation worsened from the beginning of August.

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Oleg Kotov

Oleg Kotov writes about the war in Ukraine and how it is changing the world.