Deadly Heatwave Sweeps Europe, Force Event Cancellations

Street parties, music festivals and other outdoor events were cancelled across parts of western Europe on Friday, while authorities imposed restrictions on alcohol sales as a severe heatwave affecting about 150 million people with temperatures above 35 degrees Celsius was expected to spread further east, according to AFP.

Health officials in Britain and France said hospitals were coming under increasing pressure as soaring temperatures triggered a sharp rise in emergency calls. Germany recorded a preliminary all-time high temperature of 41.3 degrees Celsius on Friday, with forecasters warning that even hotter conditions could arrive over the weekend.

Spain has reported scores of heat-related deaths, while France said dozens of people have drowned during the hot weather. Several infants have also died after being left in overheated vehicles.

The UK and Switzerland both recorded their highest temperatures for June, with eastern England reaching 37.3 degrees Celsius and Basel climbing to 38.8 degrees Celsius, according to their national weather agencies.

Europe’s oldest nuclear power plant also shut down its reactors after extreme heat caused temperatures in the river used for cooling to rise beyond safe operating levels, its Swiss operator said.

Although temperatures eased slightly across some parts of western Europe on Friday, forecasters warned that eastern Europe was yet to experience the worst of the heatwave.

The Czech Republic and Hungary issued red alerts ahead of the weekend, with temperatures expected to climb as high as 40 degrees Celsius. Several Balkan countries were also preparing for extreme weather conditions.

Scientists say repeated heatwaves are one of the clearest signs of human-induced climate change caused by the burning of fossil fuels, warning that such events will become more frequent, last longer and grow more intense.

“I do just want to stick my face in the ice bucket,” said Will Evans, 37, who runs a street-food outlet in London.

“It’s been slow, slow all week. We rely a lot on office worker lunches, so with them staying home, it’s quieter for us.”

Authorities across Europe have advised people to work from home where possible to reduce exposure to the extreme temperatures.

The scorching conditions were caused by a “heat dome” of trapped hot air moving from North Africa, according to Samantha Burgess, deputy director of the EU’s Copernicus Climate Change Service.

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Climate scientist Friederike Otto, co-founder of World Weather Attribution (WWA), said the weather pattern itself was “not particularly unusual”.

“But the temperatures are — or at least they used to be, without human-induced climate change,” he said.

AFP calculations based on weather forecasts showed that at least 150 million people across Europe were expected to experience temperatures above 35 degrees Celsius on Friday, while more than 420 million people — about 70 per cent of the continent’s population excluding Turkey — were forecast to see temperatures exceeding 30 degrees Celsius.

London Ambulance Service said Wednesday’s extreme heat resulted in the highest number of life-threatening emergency calls recorded in a single day.

France’s health ministry reported a fourfold increase in heat-related hospital admissions alongside a surge in cardiac arrest cases.

“We are reaching a saturation point in hospital facilities,” Paris police chief Patrice Faure said, announcing a rare ban on evening alcohol sales in the French capital over the weekend.

Organisers of the Paris Pride March also postponed Saturday’s event, joining a growing list of activities cancelled across Europe because of the heat.

A storm brought cooler weather overnight to Brittany in western France, offering temporary relief to residents.

“I’ve come back to life. We can breathe at last,” said local resident Aurelie Sauvager, 47.

However, much of the Netherlands remained under red alert, with authorities urging residents to travel only when necessary as most schools stayed closed.

Organisers also cancelled the four-day Defqon.1 techno music festival in the central Netherlands.

Slovakia forecast temperatures of up to 36 degrees Celsius, prompting swimming pools in Bratislava to extend opening hours while authorities deployed water tankers to supply drinking water.

Hungarian Prime Minister Peter Magyar said officials were preparing millions of bags of drinking water for possible public distribution and urged citizens to conserve water.

While major public events in eastern Europe, including Budapest’s Pride March and a large political rally in Serbia, were still expected to go ahead, many residents chose to remain indoors.

Majlinda, 41, hurried through Kosovo’s capital, Pristina, to buy medicine before the weekend while shielding herself from the sun with an umbrella.

“I want to stock up on everything I need so I don’t have to go out tomorrow or the day after,”