Prime Minister Elizabeth Bourne’s office has set up a crisis team to deal with a drought that has forced many villages to rely on trucked water supplies, prompted state utility EDF ( EDF.PA ) to curtail nuclear power generation and stressed crops . Temperatures were expected to reach 37C in the south-west on Sunday before warm air spread north early in the week. Sign up now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com Register “This new heat wave is likely to start,” said La Chaine Meteo, similar to US cable service The Weather Channel. National weather service Meteo France said it was the worst drought since records began in 1958 and that the drought was expected to worsen until at least the middle of the month. On average, less than 1cm of rain fell in France in July. The corn harvest is expected to be 18.5 percent lower this year than in 2021, the agriculture ministry said, as Europeans face higher food prices as a result of lower-than-normal grain exports from Russia and Ukraine. Meanwhile, feed shortages due to the drought meant there could be milk shortages in the coming months, the National Federation of Farmers Unions said. Nuclear company EDF last week cut power output at a plant in southwestern France due to high river temperatures in the Garonne and issued rolling warnings for reactors along the Rhone River. The hot weather has exacerbated the utility’s woes, with corrosion problems and extended maintenance at half of its 56 reactors reducing capacity as Europe grapples with an energy crisis. Water restrictions have been put in place across most of mainland France to conserve water, including bans on many areas of pipes and irrigation. Sign up now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com Register Report by Richard Lough? Editor: Hugh Lawson Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
