By David Crowe
London: Wildfires are spreading across parts of Europe as a blistering heatwave triggers fears of thousands of deaths, with 50,000 people evacuated in Turkey and blazes destroying homes in Greece.
Temperatures have reached 46 degrees in Spain – a national record for June – and national authorities have issued health alerts in France, Portugal, Germany and the United Kingdom.
A helicopter sprays water to extinguish a fire in Seferihisar, near Izmir, Turkey.Credit: AP Photo
Firefighters are seeking to contain a forest fire in the Aude region of southern France, near Toulouse, amid hopes the “heat dome” over Europe will ease at the end of the week.
The scorching conditions have intensified the climate debate when European Union leaders are discussing whether to commit to new targets to reduce carbon emissions by 2040 ahead of the next global climate summit in November.
French President Emmanuel Macron said last week that a 2035 target was necessary for the United Nations summit, to be held in Belem in Brazil, but he said a 2040 goal was not expected in November.
Tourists are coming prepared to deal with the European heat.Credit: AP Photo
UN Secretary-General António Guterres said the planet was getting “hotter and more dangerous” and he called for more action to fight climate change.
“Extreme heat is no longer a rare event – it has become the new normal,” he posted on X from Seville, Spain, where temperatures hit 42 degrees.
As the heat rose to 40 degrees in Paris, authorities closed the top floor of the Eiffel Tower for two days.
One estimate suggests the heatwave could lead to more than 4500 excess deaths this week alone because of the stifling conditions.
Pierre Masselot, a statistician at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, told news site Politico that the toll could be greatest in Italy, Croatia and Slovenia from June 30 to July 3.
The concerns are based on estimates for age, health and living conditions, as well as the forecasts for the heatwave.
Dr Hans Kluge, head of the World Health Organisation’s Europe office, warned in a statement that the scorching heat “silently threatens the people who need protection most: older adults, children, outdoor workers and anyone living with chronic health conditions”.
In Spain, a new heat record of 46 degrees was set on Saturday in the town of El Granado, according to the national weather service, with June expected to be the hottest on record, and no relief from the heat expected until Thursday.
In neighbouring Portugal, authorities issued a red heat warning for seven of 18 districts as temperatures were forecast to hit 43 degrees.
Tourists walk through a water mister in Paris on Monday.Credit: AP Photo
In France, where air-conditioning remains relatively rare, authorities were taking extra efforts to care for the homeless and elderly people. Misting stations doused passers-by along the River Seine in Paris.
The country’s first significant forest fires of the season consumed 400 hectares of woodland on Sunday and Monday in the southern Aude region.
Temperatures soared on the first day of Wimbledon, where American tennis player Frances Tiafoe took on Denmark’s Elmer Moller in the first round. Credit: AP Photo
Water-dumping planes and some 300 firefighters were mobilised, the regional emergency service said.
The peak of Mont Blanc, Europe’s highest mountain, is above freezing in June for the first time ever.
Temperatures also hit the low 30s in parts of the UK last month.Credit: Getty Images
Mont Blanc stands at 4809 metres, but Meteo France, the national forecaster, said on Saturday that it had to reach an altitude of 5135 metres to measure air at zero degrees.
Beachgoers cool off at Saint-Jean-de-Luz in south-west France.Credit: AP Photo
In Turkey, forest fires forced the temporary closure of the airport in Izmir, the state-run Anadolu Agency reported.
More than 50,000 people have been evacuated from five regions, including more than 42,000 from towns and villages in Izmir, a region on the Aegean Sea opposite Athens.
Firefighters also battled a blaze that broke out on Monday near residential areas in Hatay province, near the border with Syria, prompting the evacuation of 1500 people.
In Greece, a blaze destroyed at least 20 homes in coastal towns south-east of Athens, the BBC reported, and authorities have evacuated more than 1000 people in recent days.
The Italian Health Ministry put 21 cities under its “red” alert, which indicates “emergency conditions with possible negative effects” on healthy, active people as well as others. Regional governments in north-western Liguria and southern Sicily put restrictions on outdoor work.
People seek relief from the heat in the River Rhine in Basel, Switzerland. Credit: AP Photo
Britain’s national weather service said the Wimbledon tennis tournament was facing what could be its hottest start, with temperatures just under 30 degrees. Tournament rules permit players to take a 10-minute break when the heat goes above 30.1 degrees mid-match.
Great Britain’s Emma Raducanu cools down between sets as Wimbledon got off to a hot start on Monday.Credit: Getty Images
Temperatures in southern Germany were forecast as high as 39 degrees on Wednesday. Some towns and regions have imposed limits on the amount of water that can be taken from rivers and lakes.
At the Berlin Zoo, elephants were showered with water and bears were treated to blocks of ice containing fruit.
Elephant Pang Pha (left) and her daughter Anchali enjoy a cold shower at Berlin Zoo on Monday.Credit: AP Photo
Globally, extreme heat kills up to 480,000 people annually, surpassing the combined toll from floods, earthquakes and hurricanes, and poses growing risks to infrastructure, the economy and healthcare systems, insurer Swiss Re said earlier this month.
Global surface temperatures last month averaged 1.4 degrees higher than in the pre-industrial period, when humans began burning fossil fuels on an industrial scale, the EU’s Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) said earlier this month.
Scientists say the main cause of climate change is greenhouse gas emissions from burning fossil fuels. Last year was the planet’s hottest on record.
With Reuters, AP
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