Last month, 53 percent of the region was affected by drought -- an all-time high since records began in 2012 -- according to the EU's Copernicus Climate Change Service.

The figure is far above the 2012-2024 average for August of 30.1 percent.

Eastern Europe and the Balkans were particularly hard hit. Thousands of residents were evacuated and two people were killed as a result of wildfires in Balkan states spurred by high temperatures.

Western Europe was also badly affected, with Portugal seeing a drop in rainfall across 70 percent of the country.

France, hit by its second heatwave of the summer in August, experienced water shortages in two-thirds of the country.

Several countries in the eastern Mediterranean were severely impacted, with more than 90 percent of Armenia, Georgia and Lebanon all affected by drought.

Turkey, which experienced water shortages in 84 percent of the country, also faced numerous wildfires.

The Copernicus dataset, drawing on billions of measurements from satellites, ships, aircraft and weather stations, has recorded relentlessly rising temperatures as the planet warms as a result of humanity's emissions of greenhouse gases.