25 July 2007

Drought In South-East Europe

Whilst we deal with the flood-of-the-century, other parts of Europe are dealing with extremes of heat.

We should abandon the phrase "global warming" and embrace "climate change" -- certain countries will become wetter, and certain countries will suffer extreme drought.

In both, agriculture will be mightily affected, with from crops washed out in England, and drought increasing during the past 30 years, costing the European economy at least €100 billion, according to EU data.

Record temperatures in June have already ensured that this is the hottest summer in Greece for a century. Around 500 people have died in Hungary in the past week alone - caused by heatstroke, cardiovascular problems and other illnesses aggravated by the heat – mainly among the older population. The heat wave has also hit Austria, Romania - where at least 30 people have died – and has also been blamed for widespread forest fires in Greece, Italy, Macedonia and Serbia. Temperatures hit a historic 43C in Belgrade, 44C in Bulgaria and 45C in Bosnia and Macedonia.

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