Southern Europe scorched as rain batters north
Pastor Dale Morgan
Southern Europe scorched as rain batters north*
· Continent divided by two differing summer climates
· Heat and floods both spell disaster for farmers
John Vidal and Kate Connolly
Saturday July 28, 2007
The Guardian
Huge swaths of central and southern Europe were this week engulfed in
record temperatures, as other areas recorded their heaviest summer
rainfalls and farmers across the continent warned of impending food
shortages and price rises.
This summer Europe has been split by climate. Above a line roughly
running from the Pyrenees to Bulgaria, three humid months have been
punctuated by violent storms and enormous cloudbursts; but to the south
there has been a succession of heatwaves, each more intense than the last.
Tens of thousands of acres of forest are believed to have been destroyed
by fire. In Hungary 500 people died from heatstroke and related
problems, while in Romania 19,000 were hospitalised as temperatures
reached 41C.
With wildfires raging from Italy to Albania and Bosnia to Romania,
firefighters - aided by Russian water bomber planes - and soldiers have
fought to bring them under control. Workers in several countries were
ordered by government decree to down their tools. In Macedonia pregnant
women were sent home on paid leave until further notice.
Meanwhile farmers across northern Europe are reporting difficulties
getting crops such as broccoli, cabbages, lettuces, potatoes and
sweetcorn out of fields.
This week they appealed to the EU to be allowed to grow food on land
that has been taken out of production for environmental reasons. "It's
been a disaster for livestock farmers who will not have winter feed for
their animals and there has been a catastrophic loss of peas and some
other vegetables. You can't even get combine harvesters into fields",
said Paul Temple, NFU vice-president. "Some farmers have lost
everything. Some crops are ruined. This weather is bound to have an
effect on food inflation, although it's too early yet to say how severe
that will be."
More than 60 days of almost non-stop rain followed by high humidity has
devastated grape growers in France and Germany, according to the wine
website decanter.com. A plague of mildew and rot has almost completely
destroyed the Bordeaux harvest, and hailstorms and torrential rains have
battered vineyards in Alsace and Burgundy. Problems have also been
reported in Champagne, Beaujolais, the Loire and the Rhône valley.
In Bulgaria, which experienced its hottest temperatures in 200 years,
yields of maize were 40% below average, while in Romania wheat yields
were down a fifth.
In Poland apple harvests were reportedly down by half, and in Hungary a
large part of the blueberry stock had perished according to local reports.
"There are severe shortages of fruit and veg building in northern
France, UK, Belgium and Germany," said Simon Michel-Berger of
Copa-Cogeca, the leading European farmers' organisation.
"Not only are crops being lost, but there is a risk that the quality
will be low. Prices for all food and vegetable crops are going to
increase significantly. In England there have been substantial losses."
A spokesman for the Met Office in London said: "Europe is completely
split. It seems that the north Atlantic jet stream has shifted south
bringing wet weather, and as a direct result hot air is being drawn up
from the south in eastern Europe.
"They are having extremely hot weather and we are having very wet
weather. This has been going on now for several months. Sometimes it is
very difficult to get the pattern to change. It just gets stuck.
"Possibly a hurricane in the Atlantic will help redistribute the energy.
That might cause a dramatic change for everyone."