Extreme heat and drought have affected large areas across Romania.

The wave of extreme heat first hit the west of the country, then the northwest, to gradually cover the entire country. The most affected areas these days are the south and the east.

Ştefan Stoica, 30.07.2015, 12:55

Beyond the
severe discomfort created by this kind of weather, with temperatures reaching
and even exceeding 40 degrees Celsius and with an extremely elevated temperature/humidity
ratio, beyond the acceptable threshold of 80 units, the successive waves of
heat and the lack of precipitations have already started to show medium and
long term effects.

In the county
of Iasi alone, in the northeast, more than 33 thousand hectares of cultivated
land have started to show signs of severe lack of underground water. The most
affected are wheat, corn and sunflower crops. Unfortunately, extreme phenomena
have also started to occur quite frequently, such as the hail last week, which
damaged 5 thousand hectares of harvested land.

In Olt county,
in the region of Oltenia, hundreds of wells have gone dry, and there are
villages where the only drinking water is the one brought in fire trucks.
Weather experts say that, unless it’s going to rain in the following days,
there will be serious problems, especially in the south, translated into huge
financial losses.

The extended
drought is very likely to affect the future crops, as well. The flow of the
River Danube has also dropped dramatically. In Galati, in the south-east, the
water has already gone beyond alarming levels and, because of the extreme heat
that will not go away soon, the water level will keep on dropping. The Galati
Lower Danube Administration has taken steps to conclude river-dredging
contracts, and for navigators a warning has been issued to stay within the
fairways.

On the
river-crossing points in Tulcea, also in the south-east, cars have had to wait
long hours to be able to cross the river by ferryboats, because the level of
the water is too low, and the ferries could not be loaded at full capacity. In
the port of Corabia too, in the south, navigation on the river has become
dangerous.

The level of the Danube there has dropped dramatically and sand islands have formed, which
have narrowed the navigable channel. According to the local authorities, the
transport of farming products stored in the silos built in the near vicinity of
the port is now covered by vehicles. Local officials have called on the
transport ministry to take urgent measures to dredge the river, to make the
town port usable, but also to safeguard the tourist port project, developed
with European money, which is due to become operational next year.