This year has been one of the hottest and driest since measuring air temperatures and precipitation was introduced for many regions in Croatia, reads daily Jutarnji list.

The drought has forced towns in Istria to introduce water reductions, while the air temperature at the start of August broke records up and down the country.

August so far on the Adriatic has been two to three degrees warmer than in the last 30 years.

"If we analyse the situation in July 2012 all over Croatia, extreme drought conditions were experienced in Bjelovar (Bjelovar-Bilogora County) and Rijeka (Primorje-Gorski Kotar County), whilst the rest of the country's total rainfall was normal," said Ksenija Cindric, from the Meteorological and Hydrological Service (MHS).