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France on course for driest July on record: Weather Bureau
Paris (AFP) –
Marc-Antoine BAUDOUX, with the offices of AFP
France is on track to experience its driest July on record, the national weather service said on Wednesday, with drought-like conditions leading to increasingly stringent water restrictions across the country.
“The month of July will very likely be the driest July on record since 1959,” Meteo-France spokesman Christian Veil told AFP.
On average, only eight mm (0.3 inches) of rain fell across the country from July 1 to July 25, less than the previous low of 16 mm hit in 2020, he said.
“We’re in a very difficult situation, even though we’re only at the end of July,” he said, saying soil moisture had been at record lows and many trees had lost their leaves prematurely.
Farmers across the country are reporting difficulties feeding livestock due to parched grasslands, while irrigation has been banned in large areas of north-west and south-east France due to water shortages.
For example, the flow of the Loire, which flows into the Atlantic in north-western France, has fallen by a quarter since early July.
On the eastern Rhine, which forms the Franco-German border, merchant ships have to sail at a third of their deadweight to avoid hitting the bottom because of the low water level.
A total of 90 out of 96 administrative regions in mainland France have water restrictions, a record number, according to the Environment Ministry.
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