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Tuesday evening August 9, 18 departments were still on heat wave alert, mainly in the West. These extreme weather conditions reinforce the unprecedented drought that France is experiencing. And several sites are hit hard.
In the Loire, sandbanks are gaining ground. Seen from the sky, the largest river in France appears to be dry. Seven years ago, a few kilometers from Tours (Indre et Loire)the Loire was full of water. Today, in the same place, there is has more a trickle of water. The river can be crossed on foot. Earth is cracked on the banks. The Loire is approaching the lowest level in its history.
The enchanting postcard of the Gorges du Verdon (Alpes-de-Haute-Provence, Var) filmed in 2020, is no longer. The level dropped so much in July that it is now forbidden to navigate the Grand Canyon. At the entrance to the Gorges, the lake of Saint Cross emerald color has faded. It has lost all depth. This is unheard of since the first surveys in 1964. Same fate for the lake of Serre-Ponçon (High mountains). Some pontoons have now been out of the water for a month. In the Mont-Blanc massif, at an altitude of more than 3,500 m, there is hardly any snow left.