Posted on 08/20/2022 21:55 Updated on 08/20/2022 23:08
Article written by
M.Boisseau, C.Madini, L.Soudre – France 2
France TV
If there’s a country not associated with drought, it’s the UK. But the country experienced the driest July since 1935 and the source of the Thames has dried up.
The Thames is an iconic river in the heart of London (UK) that seems unchanging. But west of the capital, closer to the source, the river shows a completely different face today and has disappeared in places. In the village of Ashton Keynes (UK) the creek bed at the foot of the houses is actually just a strip of land several hundred meters long. A shock to the residents. “It can dry out here, but never for as long and over such a distance as this summer,” said one of them.
In Ashton Keynes there is only one place of water left in the river, a small pond that ends very quickly. This is the aftermath of a scorching UK summer with temperatures reaching 40°C: unheard of in the country. To find the continuously flowing Thames you have to walk about ten kilometers downstream. In the past few days, some heavy showers have slightly improved the situation without bringing the Thames back to normal levels.