Heat in southern and western Europe: Great Britain breaks the heat record

For the first time more than 40 degrees are measured in Great Britain. In Spain, especially in Zamora, severe forest fires are raging. Road salt is used in the Netherlands – to cool roads and bridges.

In southern and western Europe, people are sweating profusely, and the situation is sometimes dramatic due to drought and fires. In Great Britain the temperature locally exceeded the 40-degree mark for the first time. Around noon, 40.2 degrees were measured at London Heathrow. The British weather service announced that 39.1 degrees had already been reached in Charlwood near London in the morning. So far, the record was 38.7 degrees, which was reached in 2019.

Due to the extreme temperatures, rail traffic has been paralyzed in parts of the country. As the route network operator Network Rail announced, operations on the main railway lines along the English east coast and in the Midlands have been completely discontinued. People have been urged to change their travel plans.

“We don’t make these decisions lightly. Our engineers are working very hard to assess the infrastructure’s resilience in this record-breaking heat and we decided we had no choice but to shut it down,” said the Network Rail chief Manager Jake Kelly of the BBC.

Disturbances also at airports

The British weather service Met Office issued a red weather warning for the first time at the end of last week because of the high temperatures. According to the Met Office, Tuesday night was the warmest since records began.

The extreme heat has already caused significant disruption at London’s Luton Airport. The airport said the surface of the runway had been damaged by the high temperatures. According to reports, several flights had to be canceled or diverted.

Air pollution in France

In France Sun and heat caused air pollution, so the authorities ordered traffic restrictions. In the Grand Est region in the east of the country, drivers have to reduce their speed by 20 km/h on motorways and dual carriageways.

Previously, the highest temperatures since measurements began had been recorded in several places in France. In Brest on Brittany’s Atlantic coast, the temperature rose to 39.3 degrees Celsius, exceeding the previous heat record by more than four degrees. 40.3 degrees were measured in Nantes, where the previous record of 40.3 degrees came from 1949.

Arrested on suspicion of arson

A suspect has been arrested during investigations into forest fires in the Gironde department in western France, which have already destroyed almost 20,000 hectares of forest. The investigation into the fire in the municipality of Landiras had confirmed the suspicion of arson, the Bordeaux public prosecutor said. The investigation would continue with further forensic investigations and the questioning of witnesses.

According to the prosecutor, witnesses observed how a car quickly removed from the scene of the fire. According to investigators, there were other fires in the area that same day, as well as three more outbreaks in the following days. More than 34,000 people have fled their homes in the region since the fires began about a week ago.

Heat wave shifts east

In the second forest fire in La Teste-de-Buch near Arcachon, the authorities assume that the fire was caused by a delivery van that caught fire. A nursing home had to be evacuated.

The heat wave in France is now expected to subside somewhat in the west of the country. The French weather service Météo-France lifted the highest heat warning level for 15 departments on the Atlantic coast. However, the second highest warning level still applies to 73 of the 101 departments in France. In the east of the country it should be up to 40 degrees hot.

Netherlands: road salt to cool roads

Also in Belgium and the Netherlands The weather services expect maximum temperatures of more than 40 degrees Celsius. Code Orange applies in both countries. People should avoid physical exertion, drink a lot and if possible not go out in the sun.

Road salt is now used in the Netherlands to cool bridges and roads. The salt removes moisture from the air, which cools the streets – this is how damage should be prevented, according to the Hardenberg municipality. In Amsterdam, the movable bridges over the canals were cooled with water to prevent the steel from expanding too much. Then the bridges could no longer be opened to let boats through.

High ozone warnings

The ozone concentration in the air also increases due to the heat. According to the EU climate change service Copernicus, values ​​of more than 200 micrograms per cubic meter have recently been measured in southern Europe – such as Portugal, Spain and Italy. This is considered to be far too high for both people and the environment. Copernicus warned that levels could also rise to levels that are dangerous to health in north-western Europe.

Too much ozone in the air we breathe can cause headaches, coughing or tears. During physical exertion, ozone can also penetrate deep into the lung tissue, where it can damage tissue and cause inflammation.

Homes evacuated in Tuscany due to forest fire

In Italy Bozen, Brescia, Florence and Perugia, among others, are affected by hot temperatures and muggy air. In addition, the fire brigades are still on alert here and are fighting forest and bush fires nationwide. Civil protection in Sicily declared the highest risk level for forest fires in some areas.

In Tuscany, the Italian fire brigade brought several residents to safety because of a large forest fire. The fire broke out in the municipality of Massarosa north of Pisa, according to the fire department. According to the Tuscan civil protection, winds from the north-east would have driven the flames further, so that they also threatened residential buildings. Around 30 people were evacuated from them. In the meantime, the authorities have repeatedly blocked a traffic bridge that connects Lucca and Viareggio.

Fires also in Spain and Portugal

Also in parts of Spain and Portugal’s is still burning. In Spain alone, at least 60,000 hectares of forest have been devastated by the fires since last week – that corresponds to around 80 percent of the area of ​​Hamburg. “In terms of fire, this is the worst emergency on record,” civil defense director Leonardo Marcos told radio station Cadena Ser.

There are a total of six major fire complexes in the country. The situation was particularly bad in Zamora, near the border with Portugal, and in Ávila, northwest of Madrid. In these two provinces, both of which are in the so-called Autonomous Community of Castile and León, a total of around 10,000 people from around 50 towns have had to be brought to safety from the flames since Sunday. In Zamora alone, two fires have already razed 30,000 hectares of forest to the ground. There have already been two fatalities and at least 15 injured.

Scores of homes were destroyed in Zamora, Ávila and across Spain, and in Zamora alone, thousands of animals died, regional authorities said. “Zamora is going to hell,” headlined the digital newspaper Zamora News.

Three larger forest fires are still active in Portugal, which are being fought by almost 800 emergency services. Several people died in fires or from heat strokes.

Crete: Thousands of olive trees destroyed

On the Greek island of Crete, severe fires destroyed large areas of agricultural land south of the port city of Rethymno. This was told by the mayor of the region, Giannis Tatarakis, to the Greek news channel “Real FM”. So far there are more than 1850 hectares. “It’s mainly olive trees. Many people have no income at all,” said the mayor.

The fire brigade contained the fire with fire-fighting helicopters, fire-fighting planes and hundreds of firefighters and volunteers. It broke out at the end of last week, state radio reported. The risk of fire remains due to the drought and high winds throughout the south Greece very high, warned the civil defense.

Overall, however, relatively pleasant temperatures of around 30 degrees are currently prevailing in Greece. It’s not supposed to get hotter until the end of the week, but only for a short time. The heat in western Europe will probably not penetrate so far east in full strength, said a meteorologist on state radio.