France is suffering from a grave water crisis with hundreds of towns and villages left with no tap water as ‘ogre’ wildfires sweep over the nation for the second time this summer in a ‘vision of hell’.
The whole country is facing its worst drought on record with limits in place to reduce water consumption, but for more than 100 parched communes, they don’t even have the choice to manage their supply.
While fleets of vans transport bottled water to the helpless locals, French Environment Minister Christophe Béchu called it a “historic” problem because so many villages have no access to any tap water at all.
The experience of the oppressive heat without water relief is echoed across Europe, with Spain, Italy, Portugal, and Germany all experiencing emergency conditions.
Critically low water levels on the Rhine are blocking vital cargo shipments of coal and oil to Dutch ports, which might deepen the continent’s energy crisis.
While Spain is also dealing with wildfires and a drought that has left one reservoir 87% empty, Italy’s Po River is at its lowest level in recorded history.
Here, MailOnline examines how the continent-wide fires and perishing droughts have been exacerbated by the furnace-like circumstances.
France
A scarcity of water has resulted from the abnormally hot and dry summer and the absence of snow in the Alps, which has been made worse by the deadly wildfires that have scorched much of the nation, eight of which are currently burning.
When supplies were finally restored, the water in the hamlet of Ollières in the Var region of southeast France was deemed dangerous due to the sand and debris that had made its way into the pipes.
In order to combat the fires spanning four French departments, more than 1,000 firemen, nine aircraft, and two water bomber helicopters have been sent in. Locals have described the sights as “hellish,” with the sky “roaring like the ocean.”
I would classify the fire in Landiras as a mega-fire, Gregory Allione of the French firefighters’ union FNSPF told RTL Radio today.
He said, “It’s an ogre, it’s a monster.”
More than 6,800 hectares of woodland were burned by fire in the Gironde area near Bordeaux in southern France, where flames forced the evacuation of 10,000 people and prompted some of them to climb onto roofs for protection.
In France’s driest month since 1961, the Gironde was recently devastated by severe wildfires that burnt more than 20,000 hectares of woodland and temporarily evicted over 40,000 people from their homes.
According to Jean-Louis Dartiailh, mayor of Hostens, a tiny town near to the fire, “It’s a tragedy, economically, environmentally, it’s dreadful.”
“The area has been completely altered.” We’re worn out and brokenhearted.
According to statistics from the European Forest Fire Information System, there have been fires in France this year that have burned more than 57,200 hectares, which is roughly six times the full-year average from 2006 to 2021.
The government announced that Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin and Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne will visit the front lines of the Gironde area of southwest France’s firefighting operations on Thursday.
Six fire engines were reported torched, but there have been no injuries. Near the community of Belin-Beliet, 16 residences have been damaged or destroyed.
The Atlantic coast and its beaches, which attract large numbers of visitors each summer, are covered with acrid smoke, and the local ARS health agency is “seriously” advising people to use protective face masks.
Martin Guespereau, head of the Gironde region, warned that “the chances are quite significant” that the fire may grow further under the dry weather.
The fire didn’t go out in July; instead, it moved underground, he told reporters. “The weather is extremely unfavourable due of the heat, the dry air, the record drought, and the fact that there is a lot of peat in the ground,” he said.
Darmanin said that investigators thought arson may have been a factor.
In Mostuejouls, north of the Mediterranean city of Montpellier, where another fire was blazing in the Grands Causses natural park, he said: “There were eight flames that erupted between 8:00 and 9:00 am (0600 and 0700 GMT) that erupted at intervals of a few hundred metres, which is highly rare.”
Additionally, he informed reporters that within the next 24 hours, Sweden and Italy will deploy firefighting planes to France to assist.
According to Marc Vermeulen of the regional fire-fighting authority, the fire is “a significant fire” that is “far more intense and fast-moving” than it was during the height of the Landiras fire last month.
The sky was roaring like the ocean when I opened the door last night, said Eliane, a 43-year-old resident of a temporary shelter for evacuees in Belin-Beliet, and there was (a) crimson wall in front of us.
It was the second time this summer that Christian Fostitchenko, 61, and his companion Monique had to leave their house in Saint-Magne.
They were waiting at a martial arts studio in neighbouring Salles.
The flames were fewer than 100 metres (328 feet) from the home this time, he claimed, adding, “We were terribly afraid.
The A63 highway, a key thoroughfare connecting Bordeaux to Spain, was being threatened by the fire, and between Bordeaux and Bayonne, it had to be shut down due to heavy smoke.
Additionally, wildfires have started in the arid hills of the southeast and even in the typically lush coastal regions of Brittany.
A wildfire in Angers and Le Mans in western France has burnt 1,200 hectares since Monday, according to authorities there, and over 400 firemen are battling to put it out.
Germany
According to authorities, the Rhine’s water levels have dropped so drastically as a result of the drought in Germany that they may soon reach an extremely low level.
This might make it more difficult to carry items across the important canal, including coal and gasoline, which could exacerbate the already dire energy situation.
Due to weeks of dry weather, some of Europe’s main rivers have reduced to trickles, creating problems for German companies and power plants that depend on ship cargo and increasing the likelihood of an economic downturn.
According to Capital Economics, inland waterway shipping is more significant in Germany than in many other Western European nations.
Tim Alexandrin, a spokesperson for Germany’s Transport Ministry, said: “This is notably the case for the Rhine, whose nautical bottleneck at Kaub has extremely low water levels but which remains accessible for ships with short draughts.”
Early on Friday, water levels at Kaub are expected to fall below the threshold of 40 centimetres, and they will continue to do so over the weekend.
At that location, which is about halfway down the Rhine between Koblenz and Mainz, many big ships would find it difficult to transit the river safely, despite the fact that this is still higher than the record low of 27 centimetres witnessed in October 2018.
Christian Lorenz, a spokeswoman for the German logistics business HGK, stated that although the situation is serious, it is not yet as bad as it was in 2018.
Ships that regularly transport 2,200 metric tonnes of salt down the Rhine River from Heilbronn to Cologne can only move around 600 tonnes of salt because of the lack of water, he added.
Of course, we hope that shipping won’t be disrupted, but as we witnessed in 2018, when sea levels dropped drastically, gas stations found themselves without gasoline because ships couldn’t pass.
According to Alexandrin, a spokeswoman for the Transport Ministry, authorities are moving more cargo traffic onto the rail network and, if required, giving it priority.
Spain
Paddleboats and waterslides are abandoned on the cracked bed of the Vinuela reservoir, which is now 87 percent empty, in Andalusia, one of Europe’s hottest and driest regions.
The hottest month in Spain since at least 1961 was July due to a protracted dry spell and extreme heat.
According to government statistics, the average capacity of Spanish reservoirs in early August was just 40%, well below the ten-year norm of 60%.
Last month, flames decimated the nation, and since then, others have broken out, obliterating 270 hectares in Carballeda de Valdeorras.
Firefighters said that the blaze, which started on Tuesday near Casaio, which had a wildfire in July, is “still active and out of control.”
According to a recent assessment by Spain’s meteorological office AEMET, the dry, hot weather is anticipated to continue until the fall, placing further stress on Europe’s biggest network of dammed reservoirs, which have a holding capacity of 5.6 billion cubic metres.
Energy Minister Teresa Ribera said at a press conference on Monday that “we are in a very dry year, a very tough year that supports what climate change scenarios have been underlining.” She also noted that the drought was causing deadly wildfires.
Portugal
A fire has being fought by about 1,200 firemen with the assistance of eight aircraft in the hilly Covilha region.
Since Saturday, more than 3,000 hectares of forest have been destroyed in the area 170 kilometres to the northeast of Lisbon.
Strong winds are prompting the fire to ignite again’very violently’ after it had earlier been brought under control.
Three firemen have been removed off duty owing to injuries incurred while battling the blaze, which destroyed hectares of protected natural terrain, including priceless ecosystems and 100-year-old trees that can never be restored.
In addition to the habitats for owls, deer, rabbits, buzzards, and red kites, protected species including bellflowers, campion, and juniper have disappeared.
Italy
Following a dramatic decline in water levels, local officials in districts bordering Italy’s largest river, the Po, have declared an emergency.
A third of Italy’s agricultural output is produced along the Po.
The river’s very bottom can now be seen as water levels drastically decline and large sandbanks burn in the heat.
Because of the drought, the waters are so low that they have exposed a World War Two bomb that had been buried.
The 450 kg (1,000 lb) bomb, which was found on July 25 close to the northern village of Borgo Virgilio, close to the city of Mantua, was neutralised by military experts on Sunday and then detonated under controlled circumstances.
Due to a drop in water levels brought on by the drought, the bomb was discovered by fishermen on the bank of the River Po, according to Colonel Marco Nasi.
According to the army, about 3,000 nearby residents were evacuated in preparation for the disposal operation. The area’s airspace was closed, and traffic on a nearby state road and railway as well as on that section of the waterway came to a stop.
According to the mayor of Borgo Virgilio, Francesco Aporti, “at first, some of the residents stated they would not go, but in the past few days, we believe we have convinced everyone.”
He said that if anyone had refused to leave, operations would have been put on hold.
The 530 pounds of explosive that the army said the U.S.-made device contained had its fuse removed by bomb disposal specialists.
The device was then moved by the bomb squad and detonated in a quarry in the nearby municipality of Medole while being accompanied by police.
The greatest delta in Italy, where the Po empties into the Adriatic Sea south of Venice, has seen a rise in salt as a result of the drought and the hot weather.
Along with the shellfish that are a vital component of spaghetti with clams, one of Italy’s culinary specialties, the increasing salt is destroying rice fields.
The Po Delta’s coveted double-valve clam stock has lost at least one-third of its population.
Growingly saline aquifers are causing plants along the Po River’s banks to wilt, and minor rivers have dried up, reducing the size of the wetlands that amphibians and birds call home.
According to Giancarlo Mantovani, director of the Po River Basin Authority, “it is obvious that there is an entire system with an ecology that will have permanent problems.”
Due to drought conditions brought on by a lack of wintertime snowpack and spring and summer rains, the amount of water entering the delta from the Po River is at an all-time low, reaching just 3,350 cubic feet per second last month.
One-tenth of yearly averages is that. Farmers have been permitted to use river water for cultivation for about two months now.
Due to seawater infiltrating into previously unrecorded inland lengths and aquifers, subsurface layers of rock that may store water, the effect may be much more profound.
Mantovani said that since the area around the Po is three metres below sea level, saltwater water is constantly flowing into the aquifers.
Thus, in addition to creating an agricultural problem, a human problem, and an environmental problem, we are doing so. This is the ideal storm.