Hellish weather. A heat wave is heading from the south to the north of Europe, the heat has killed hundreds of people
Deadly fires have also engulfed the continent. The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) at the United Nations has warned that even worse times await people. Heat waves are becoming more frequent, more intense and longer due to human-induced climate change.
“In the future these types of heat waves will be normal and we will see even stronger extremes,” warned WMO chief Petteri Taalas.
Great Britain and France
Several fire brigades in the UK are talking about a sharp increase in fires and their consequences. For example, in Wennington, East London, a house was on fire. Residents who were evacuated by emergency services told the BBC that the fire had destroyed about eight houses and possibly a local church. Firefighters described the scene of the fire as “absolute hell”.
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According to the diary The Guardian British experts have calculated that almost a thousand people are likely to die as a result of the current heat wave, which lasts from Sunday to Wednesday. “Such a death toll would be higher than the average excess mortality due to heat throughout the summer recorded between 2000 and 2019,” said researchers from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine.
In France, meteorologists recorded a total of 64 temperature records on Monday. Although the historical maximum for mainland France was not exceeded, the south-west of the country experienced the biggest fires in more than thirty years. Since July 12, fires have engulfed more than twenty thousand hectares of the Gironde wine region. Firefighters evacuated almost thirty-seven thousand people who had to leave their homes.
“The weather conditions are crazy. It’s an explosive cocktail,” fire department spokesman Matthieu Jomain said in a statement to French media.
Fortunately, cooler weather has now returned to the UK and France.
Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands
In Belgium, a fire broke out in the local resort of De Haan, where several vehicles caught fire. However, after the fierce heat, the country is now preparing for strong storms, which could bring 20-30 millimeters of rain in some regions, according to Le Soir.
Heat warnings are still in place in Germany, spreading to the north and east. On Tuesday, the country experienced the hottest day of 2022. The National Meteorological Service recorded 39.5 degrees Celsius in the western city of Duisburg. According to meteorologists, the Netherlands also reached the same maximum in Maastricht.
Portugal, Spain, Greece and Italy
Temperatures have now dropped significantly in Portugal. But since last week, local authorities have recorded more than a thousand deaths related to the extreme heat wave.
Forest fires have become a common consequence of these extreme temperatures. The fire ravaged much of central and northwestern Spain. Due to the fires here, the authorities have also stopped rail traffic between Madrid and the region of Galicia.
Monitoring service Copernicus – part of the EU’s Earth Observation program – said total carbon emissions from fires in June and July were the highest in Spain for that period since 2003.
Tropes will also arrive on Friday. However, thunderstorms will appear in places in the Czech Republic on Thursday
Greece is also troubled by the fire. A wind-driven forest fire raged in the mountainous region of Penteli, near Athens. It damaged homes and prompted local authorities to evacuate at least four areas and a hospital.
The risk of extreme heat still applies in Italy. Local meteorologists warn of temperatures between 40 and 42 degrees Celsius. In the country, emergency services have already recorded several fires, and the flames that broke out on Monday evening in Tuscany were still raging on Tuesday afternoon.
Concerns about the future of the planet
The forecast of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) is not positive. WMO officials expect temperatures to remain above normal until the middle of next week. According to the WMO, more people will die due to the heat, especially the elderly and people with health complications. “The negative trend of worsening heat waves is likely to continue for decades, at least until 2060,” said WMO chief Petteri Taalas.
The UK Met Office’s head of science, Professor Stephen Belcher, warned: “The only way we can stabilize the climate is to achieve zero emissions. And we have to do it very soon.’
Hannah Cloke, professor of hydrology at the University of Reading, said this week’s extreme heat warning was a warning sign of a climate emergency. “If record extreme weather and price shocks affecting everyone don’t convince our leaders that there is a need to seriously step up policy on these issues, then I don’t know what will,” she told the Guardian.
The south of Europe has turned into an inferno: Images of fires have scared the world, countries are reporting victims
“The heat is a clear reminder of the urgent need to reduce global carbon emissions,” added Sam Fankhauser, professor of climate economics at the University of Oxford.
Temperatures in Europe, the US and most of the Northern Hemisphere are soaring and steamy summers are becoming the norm. UN chief António Guterres compared the current climate crisis to “collective suicide”.
Extreme weather doesn’t just paralyze Europe. Even the world’s most populous country has been facing extraordinary weather conditions since the beginning of summer, China.
Since May, when the country’s rainy season began, heavy torrential rains have brought widespread flooding and landslides across large areas of southern China, killing dozens of people, displacing millions of people and causing billions of yuan in economic losses (one billion yuan is about 3 .5 billion crowns).
In June, extreme rainfall broke historical records in coastal Fujian province and parts of Guangdong and Guangxi provinces. At the same time, a heat wave began to grip northern China, causing temperatures to exceed 40 degrees Celsius. This heat wave has now engulfed half the country, affecting more than 900 million people – nearly two-thirds of the local population. All but two of China’s northeastern provinces have issued heat warnings, and 84 cities issued the highest level of red alert last Wednesday.
What’s more, the sweltering heat coincides with an increase in the number of new coronavirus cases, making government-mandated mass testing even more excruciating for residents, including the elderly. Often according to CNN they have to wait in long lines in direct sunlight.
The weather has also become dangerous for health workers who, as part of the government’s zero-case covid-19 policy, have to spend long hours outdoors, covered from head to toe in an impermeable protective suit, to carry out tests.
Several videos of covid testing workers collapsing and falling to the ground due to heatstroke have surfaced on social media.
The heat wave has also caused power outages in some regions and affected crop production in the country, leaving prices at risk of further increases.
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