France's water crisis has deepened after months of exceptional heatwaves, leaving soils at their driest level since records began in 1958. Florence Habets, president of the Scientific Council of the Seine-Normandy River Basin Committee, described the situation as "very concerning," noting that around two-thirds of France is affected by drought alerts, with 18% at the highest crisis level. Rivers and streams have reached critically low levels, with the OFB reporting that 43% of its monitoring stations were completely dried out by August, surpassing the historic drought of 2022.