The European Union issues an alert: Hungary is also affected – Terasz
Some parts of drought-stricken Europe may face a warmer, drier period than usual for another three months, the European Union warned in a report on Wednesday.
In almost half of the EU member states, including Hungary, the risk of drought is significant.
Drought alert in Europe
The EU’s Copernicus satellite Earth observation program said in August that warmer and drier weather conditions than usual are causing drought in Europe, resulting in forest fires, river water levels falling or drying up, and significant crop losses.
“The usual warmer and drier weather is likely to be expected in the western Mediterranean region, notably in Spain and Portugal, over the coming months until November,” they said.
As it was written, a drought was ordered in almost half of the member states of the European Union – Belgium, France, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, Romania and Spain. But outside the EU, the risk of drought is significant in Great Britain, Serbia, Ukraine and Moldova.
Photo: Ladislav KubeÅ / Getty Images Hungary
The report highlighted that the temperature exceeded 40 degrees Celsius in France, 45 degrees Celsius in Spain and 46 degrees Celsius in Portugal.
“With the general warming of the climate, Europe will face increasingly frequent and intense heat waves,” they warned.
The report also reported that the lack of rainfall since May and the drought caused by a series of heat waves also seriously affected the energy sector, depriving hydropower plants primarily of energy sources and other power plants of the necessary coolant.
The lack of water and the heat also reduced crop yields in Europe, the extreme heat damaged the corn, soybean and sunflower crops the most. The August rains that fell recently in some regions damaged the harvest in other areas. The drought caused billions of euros in losses for farmers, they wrote.
According to experts, this year could be the continent’s most severe drought in the last five hundred years. Beyond Europe, drought was also reported in East Africa, the western United States and northern Mexico.
According to a report prepared by the European Commission’s Joint Research Center (JRC) in mid-July, 46 percent of the EU’s territory, mainly the southwestern European regions, is threatened by drought.
According to the research center, the drought affected Italy the most. In the Pó river basin, the competent authorities ordered a degree of drought. Water restrictions have been introduced in five Italian regions.
In France, there are water supply problems in more than a hundred settlements, drinking water is transported by truck. The level of drought is also higher in more than sixty French counties.
In Spain’s Andalusia and Extremadura regions, water resources are less than a third of what is normal. The total water volume of the Spanish reservoirs 31 is the ten-year average, while in Portugal it reaches half the average of the previous seven years.
Due to the low water level of the Rhine in Germany, industrial companies may have to reduce or completely stop production. The Danube water level dropped to one of the lowest levels of the last century, they wrote.
ELTE researchers warn: Hungary could be in for a huge disaster
Hungary is threatened with drought in the coming decades if climate change is not stopped, ELTE researchers said.
Cover image:
MTI/Tamás Vasvári