Scientists have shown that recurring heatwaves are a clear marker of global warming driven by humans burning fossil fuels, and warn they are set to become more frequent, longer and more intense.
Here are the latest developments in Europe’s heatwave.
Romania red warning
Romania’s weather agency has issued a red heatwave warning, to start on Monday and run to Wednesday, covering almost the whole country.
Paris emergency calls almost double
The French capital’s hospital authority said emergency calls in the capital had risen by 80 percent in the past week, compared with the same week last year.
France heat to break
Meteo-France said it expected all remaining red alerts to be lifted by Sunday night.
Swiss nuclear plant stops operations
The nuclear reactors at Europe’s oldest nuclear plant Beznau were shut down Friday, its Swiss operator Axpo said.
“The temperature of the Aare River reached 25C again yesterday and today. Sufficient cooling is not in sight,” Axpo said on its website, adding that as a consequence, the plant “has temporarily shut down both reactors”.
Toddler dies in France
A toddler died in hospital after being found in a hot car during a severe heatwave in the French city of Marseille, health services said, in the latest such death nationwide this week.
German, Swiss, UK records
Germany saw its highest temperature ever recorded at 41.3C in the western city of Saarbruecken.
The UK and Switzerland, meanwhile, clocked their highest ever June temperatures with 37.3C in an English village called Santon Downham and 38.8C in the Swiss city of Basel.
