Europe heatwave strains services as deaths reported in France and Spain
Heat alerts cover much of Europe as extreme temperatures disrupt schools, transport and health services, with deaths reported in France and Spain.
By Daniel Okafor · Business Editor
3 min read
A severe heatwave is bringing deaths, school closures and transport warnings across Europe as temperatures approach or pass June records. Health officials and climate scientists say the event shows how vulnerable the continent remains as heat extremes become more common.
France has been among the hardest-hit countries. Meteo-France recorded a provisional national average temperature of 29.8C, which Al Jazeera reported would exceed the country’s previous mark set in 2019, while one town rose above 44C.
French Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu linked 40 drownings since Thursday to the heat, saying people had sought relief in the water, according to Al Jazeera. Three older people died from heat-related causes near Bordeaux, and two children, ages two and four, were found dead in a hot car in southern France, Al Jazeera reported.
Deaths have also been reported in Spain. Al Jazeera said a 90-year-old woman died near Bilbao after suffering heatstroke in a nursing home, while a 68-year-old man in Almeria was also reported to have died from heatstroke.
Alerts and disruption spread across the region
Heat warnings are in force across large parts of Europe. Al Jazeera reported that the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Spain, Switzerland and Luxembourg were all facing the highest-level red alerts.
In the United Kingdom, the Met Office forecast temperatures above 38C and issued a rare red warning for extreme heat, according to Al Jazeera. Hundreds of schools have closed or shortened their schedules, and officials have urged people to avoid unnecessary rail journeys because of possible transport problems and pressure on energy and water systems.
Spain’s weather agency AEMET reported temperatures above 45C in the country’s south, Al Jazeera said. Nearly all of Spain was under some level of heat alert.
Scientists cited by Al Jazeera said Europe is exposed to greater disruption because much of its housing, transport and public infrastructure was built for a cooler climate. About 20 percent of European homes have air conditioning, and many buildings in northern countries were designed to hold warmth rather than shed it, according to the report.
Weather pattern traps hot air
Meteorologists attribute the heat to a heat dome over Western Europe, Al Jazeera reported. The system is being held in place by an omega block, a pattern in which high pressure becomes trapped between two lower-pressure systems.
Under that setup, the normal west-to-east movement of weather systems slows or stalls, leaving hot air over the same region for days or weeks, according to meteorologists cited by Al Jazeera. The UK Met Office said Britain is near the edge of the high-pressure zone, producing hotter conditions in the south and east and cooler, wetter weather farther north.
Climate link and health risk
Europe is warming at roughly twice the global average rate, according to the World Health Organization and scientists cited by Al Jazeera. Laurie Parsons, a reader in human geography at Royal Holloway, University of London, told Al Jazeera that heat stress is the world’s deadliest environmental hazard and that the WHO estimates nearly 500,000 people die each year from heat-related illness.
Parsons said people older than 65 account for about 90 percent of heat-stress deaths, and lower-income communities face higher exposure because of poorer housing and more outdoor work. He also said heatwaves like the current event are about 30 times more likely than before human-driven climate change, and that heat once expected every 300 years now occurs more often than once a decade.
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the heatwave was putting public health at risk and called for investment in climate-resilient health systems as well as faster action on climate change, Al Jazeera reported. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, speaking during London Climate Action Week, said fossil fuels were driving both the climate and energy crises and urged a rapid shift to clean energy.
This story draws on original reporting from Al Jazeera.