France saw around 1,000 people die last week during its heat wave, said the country’s health organization on Sunday, as the head of the World Health Organization (WHO) warned that Europe is now the hottest continent and needs to do more to protect its citizens.
Heat records were broken in many countries over the weekend, wildfires broke out in Germany and police in Berlin used water cannons to cool crowds.
At that time, the heat wave slowly moved to the eastern parts of the continent.
Germany marked a new record for the third day in a row at 41.7 C, while Poland baked below its new high of 40.5 C. The Czech Republic also had its hottest day at 41.1 C.
A new study from the World Weather Attribution, a collaboration of European scientists, reported on Friday that the record-breaking heat and humidity in Europe this past week would not have happened without climate change.
A quick study found that heat would not have happened five decades ago, and it is 200 times more likely today than it would have been 20 years ago.
France records an increase in the number of deaths
France reported an increase in deaths last week, including a sharp increase in people’s homes, especially in the Paris region, the national public health agency said on Sunday.
More than 1,200 people died on Wednesday, as France grappled with record-breaking temperatures, rising to more than 1,400 deaths each day over the next two days, Public Health France said. In April and May, before the heat wave, the French death rate was about 900 to 1,000 per day.
The agency concluded that France experienced at least 1,000 more deaths in those three days alone, an estimate it warned could rise as more data is collected, including deaths at home.
The increase is most pronounced in areas with red warnings for extreme heat, he said. Those warnings covered nearly three-quarters of the country at the height of the heat wave. The agency said 85 percent of the deaths involved people aged 65 and over.
Europe is the hottest continent, WHO warns
“Europe is the hottest continent on Earth, twice as hot as the global average,” WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Sunday. “Right now 150 million people are living under extreme heat, hundreds have died, schools are closed, grids are being shut down.”
Driven by climate change and global warming, a “once-in-a-generation” heat wave now occurs almost every year, Tedros said, adding that more than 1,300 people have died since June 21 related to high temperatures in Europe.
“Heat stress is often called the ‘silent killer’ – and European homes, workplaces and schools are not built for these temperatures,” Tedros warned as he called on European countries to put action plans in place. He said they should focus on preparedness, prevention and response to a strong health system.
Lightning strikes a Swedish theme park
In Sweden, several people were injured when they were struck by lightning at an amusement park, the country’s news agency TT reported.
Three adults were taken to hospital, including a woman with serious injuries, after lightning struck the Tosselilla Sommarland park in Tomelilla in the south of the country.
Across Europe, extreme heat has been followed by severe thunderstorms.
Denmark, which was marking new heat records on Saturday, recorded 1,156 lighting strikes on Sunday morning, according to public broadcaster DR.
Heat causes wildfires
In Gohrischheide, in eastern Germany, a fire broke out in a large forest still littered with ammunition from the Second World War, making the efforts of firefighters even more difficult.
Similarly, a major firefighting operation was underway in southwest Germany near the town of Traisen, where heat caused a forest fire in an area containing unexploded ordnance.
Firefighters had to be temporarily halted after the explosion and the disposal unit was brought in to continue to assess the situation, reported the German news agency dpa. About 650 people in Traisen had to leave their homes on Sunday afternoon because the fire continues to spread.
Fire departments in major cities were busy sending ambulances to people suffering from heat-related illnesses. In Berlin, an additional 500 ambulance dispatches were reported on Saturday, most of them heat-related.
Police in Berlin used water cannons to cool down residents
Police in the German capital have found a way to help Berliners and tourists alike. They placed two large water cannons – usually used to disperse unruly protesters – in front of the city’s famous Brandenburg Gate and sprayed cool water on the cheering crowd.
The heat also continued to wreak havoc on the country’s infrastructure, with concrete crumbling on many highways, and a weekend warning by national rail operator Deutsche Bahn to avoid all non-essential train travel.
More than 600 passengers had to be evacuated from an overheated train in Brandenburg after a tree fell on an overhead power line during a storm on Saturday evening. The train, which was on its way from Hamburg to Prague, lost power. The air conditioners stopped working and the doors were locked until the emergency services were forced to open them. Two people were hospitalized for heat-related complications, dpa reported.
In the eastern city of Leipzig, no trams will operate until Monday morning due to heat damage to tracks and switches. The Leipzig Public Transportation Authority said the high temperatures caused the asphalt and concrete coating on switches and tracks to run and coalesce in many places throughout the city’s network.
