The French government has activated a crisis task force to coordinate efforts to alleviate the effects of an “historic” drought exacerbated by an extreme summer heatwave.
Authorities have already ordered water restrictions in nearly all of France’s 96 mainland departments, with 62 at the highest alert level. Meanwhile, the Meteo France weather agency has forecast little relief for the coming weeks as temperatures are expected to reach 40 degrees Celsius (104 Fahrenheit).
