Rain improves topsoil moisture, but deep soil drought remains a problem

Rainfall over the past week has partially replenished moisture in the upper 40 centimetres of soil across almost the entire Czech Republic, however, deeper soil layers down to one metre remain dry, according to the InterSucho project conducted by researchers at the CzechGlobe Global Change Research Institute of the Czech Academy of Sciences.

Moreover, the preceding drought, combined with extreme heat, was so severe that some of the damage is already irreversible, the report says. This applies to agricultural crops, forests and urban greenery alike.

At the same time, groundwater and surface water reserves continue to decline. Many river monitoring stations remain at drought levels, while both shallow and deep groundwater wells are also reporting exceptionally below-normal conditions.