A new report by a European Union agency claimed that the continent is currently facing its worst drought in 500 years. In the last few months, several European nations have faced massive wildfires and extreme temperatures which have caused severe damage to both life and property.
“The severe drought affecting many regions of Europe since the beginning of the year has been further expanding and worsening as of early August,” the report said according to Reuters.
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The report, which was published by the European Drought Observatory (EDO), also claimed that the western part of Europe can face extremely warm weather till the end of November.
The wildfires in Greece, Spain and France have caused a lot of concern for the authorities in the past couple of months and the ongoing drought has also affected the production of crops.
It is evident from the fact that grain maze and soybean (two of the major summer crops) production in Europe has fallen by 16 and 15 per cent respectively due to lack of moisture in the soil.
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“The combination of a severe drought and heatwaves has created an unprecedented stress on water levels in the entire EU,” European Innovation Commissioner Mariya Gabriel said in a statement.
“We are currently noticing a wildfire season sensibly above the average and an important impact on crops production,” she added according to CNBC.
The report stated that “47 per cent of Europe is under warning conditions and 17 per cent in a state of alert”. It also claimed that if the trend continues, this can be one of the worst droughts in history.
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