The Czech Republic is facing its worst drought in 500 years, experts said on Wednesday, with its Environment Minister Richard Brabec describing a long period of extremely dry weather as "simply catastrophic."

A map presented by the environment ministry showed that just 0.1 percent of the country had a normal level of water in the soil in mid-April while extreme drought was found in 75.4 percent of the country.

"The episode of drought that the country has experienced since 2015 is the worst of the last 500 years," Czech scientists and experts affiliated in Intersucho, a specialized data hub focused on drought, said on Twitter.

Drought conditions have persisted since 2015, as temperatures rose and rainfall dwindled.

Last year's drought affected around 99.5 percent of the country, causing crop damage between nine and 11 billion koruna (408-500 million U.S. dollars), according to the Agrarian Chamber.

Farmers across Europe, including those in usually wetter northern regions like Sweden and the Baltic states, also suffered in 2019 from record drought, with many forced to slaughter livestock due to severe shortages of fodder.

Brabec blamed the extreme drought in the Czech Republic "on the decrease in the volume of precipitation, the increase in the average temperature as well as greater evaporation and a longer growing season."

He has called an emergency meeting of regional and local officials from across the country for May 12 to draw up a crisis response strategy aimed at ensuring that supplies of drinking water will not be in jeopardy during what is forecast to be yet another dry summer.

(With input from agencies)