Europe swelters under record-breaking heatwave
France faced a major power outage due to the extreme weather, with temperatures reaching record highs.
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PARIS: Europe struggled to cope with a record-breaking heatwave on Wednesday (Jun 24), with at least 94 million people expected to experience temperatures above 35C, most of them in France and Spain.
AFP estimates based on analysis of forecasts from the German weather service and 2025 population projections from Europe's Joint Research Centre suggest maximum temperatures will surpass 30C for over 350 million people - more than two-thirds of the continent's population.
The effects of the extreme weather, with temperatures hotter than parts of east and west Africa, have been made worse by buildings and infrastructure not designed to cope with high temperatures, and is being driven by atmospheric patterns trapping hot air.
But a scientific study published this week said the current heatwave was "significantly exacerbated by human-induced climate change", without which the current temperatures would have been 2-4C cooler.
The World Health Organisation's head Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus warned that the heatwave, which has also increased air pollution, was putting the health of Europeans at risk and urged leaders to invest in making their health services more climate-resilient.
The head of the UN's IPCC climate experts panel, Jim Skea, said the current temperatures were above some scientific projections, and warned that the continent would inevitably face more extremes as the planet warms.
"SWIMMING IN MY OWN SWEAT"
Around 44 million of the nearly 67 million people in France are currently under the highest red alert level for heat, according to an AFP estimate.
France on Wednesday experienced its hottest day since measurements began in 1947, the national weather agency said, breaking a record set just a day earlier.
The national temperature indicator - an average of daytime and nighttime temperatures across 30 stations - reached 30C, Meteo-France said, citing provisional data.
Meanwhile, Britain recorded its hottest ever June temperature on Wednesday with the mercury rising to 36.1C in southern England, breaking the previous record of 35.6C set in 1976.
Spain also broke its June heat record, according to the Aemet weather agency, with an average temperature of 28.17C on Tuesday.
Conditions at many schools, offices and factories across the continent have become unbearable as temperatures rise, forcing early closures and employees to work from home.
"I'm practically swimming in my own sweat, which is not pleasant," 25-year-old decorator Aaron Timothy told AFP in London while cooling off in the shade.
In Italy, where 16 cities are under red alert, the advocacy group Greenpeace said it had detected surface temperatures of 80C in the heavily asphalted area around Rome's Termini railway station.
Despite restrictions for outdoor workers, the area was still buzzing with delivery riders, many of whom are self-employed, who said they had to work to survive.
"The climate crisis is impacting above all the most vulnerable people in the population - the people who need to work, who have to work," said Greenpeace campaigner Simona Abbate.
POWER CUTS
Power outages have been reported in France, including in the northwest department of Finistere, where high temperatures knocked out a transformer late on Tuesday, leaving about 68,000 households without electricity.
In Britain, electricity grid operator Neso warned that supply could be squeezed due to pressure on the system.
Sales of fans and air conditioners have skyrocketed as people try to keep cool.
June is a key month for tourism in Europe but popular landmarks, including the Eiffel Tower and Louvre museum in Paris, and the stainless steel Atomium in Brussels, have been shutting early because of the heat.
American engineer John Beeler, wearing a fisherman's hat and holding a small fan, said visiting Paris in such conditions was "awful".
"We're suffocating in the streets, we're suffocating in the subway and we're even suffocating in our rental," he said, adding that they would be moving to an air-conditioned hotel room.
Some of the thousands of specimens housed at University College London's Grant Museum of Zoology were potentially under threat because buildings were not designed to cope with heat.
"We've been considering at what point we're going to have to preventively decant a bunch of jars," said head of zoology and science collections Tannis Davidson.
HEADING EAST
The heatwave has pushed up temperatures even in usually milder northern countries such as Denmark, while Austria could see 40C and neighbouring Slovakia was on its highest extreme heat alert.
Further east, Poland's weather service issued high-level heat warnings for the western part of the country from Thursday to Saturday, and predicted temperatures could break the record of 40.2C set in 1921.
Croatia's popular Adriatic coast was also put under red alert for Friday and Saturday, while Hungary said it was imposing a maximum level alert from Saturday to Tuesday.
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