More than half of England is now in drought as the fourth heatwave of the year reaches a crescendo on Wednesday.

The Environment Agency say that seven regions of England are officially in drought conditions, across central, southern, and eastern England. Those regions are:

After weeks of very little rainfall, falling river levels, rising wildfire risk, and 23 million people seeing water restrictions, the agency say that the seven regions are experiencing a "flash drought".

Last week, parts of northern Wales entered drought. This means that there have now been three droughts in the past five years, and follows a significant shift in our weather so far this year.

After a very wet winter, summer has been exceptionally hot and dry. England has seen just 7% of its average July rainfall total this month, and in southern England this drops to 1%.

This combined with the heatwaves, including a 12 day run of days over 30°C, has seen water supplies dwindle, with 78% of England's rivers classified as below normal or lower, and some, including the River Thames, seeing record low river flows.