Hundreds of deaths recorded as heatwave continues to grip Europe

Europe’s record-breaking heatwave has claimed hundreds of lives, according to health authorities, as the continent battles through another day of scorching temperatures.

At least 101 million Europeans were forecast to swelter in temperatures of over 35 degrees on Thursday.

In Spain, where new temperature records have been set for June, the MoMo monitoring system of mortality rates said 212 deaths between Sunday and Wednesday could be linked to the heat.

The UK recorded its hottest ever June day on Thursday, with temperatures reaching 36.4 degrees in south-western Somerset, breaking the previous day’s record and triggering a warning from the London Ambulance Service.

Paramedics responded to the highest-ever number of “life-threatening emergencies” on Wednesday, which its chief executive Jason Killens said was “driven by the extreme heat”.

Ambulance crews responded to a record 642 Category 1 calls that day, which includes the most serious, life-threatening injuries and illnesses, such as cardiac arrests and patients who are not breathing.

Three deaths in northern France’s Pas-de-Calais region were also “likely” caused by the heat while a prosecutor said a three-year-old boy was found dead in a car in the suburbs of Paris, where temperatures topped 40 degrees on Wednesday.

Two other children died in similar circumstances in France this week while at least 48 people have died in the country from drowning.

In Paris, 25 cardiac arrests were recorded over 24 hours on Wednesday, compared with fewer than 10 usually, Health Minister Stephanie Rist’s office said.

At the national level, she said a fourfold increase in emergency room visits for heat-related reasons had been recorded.

Since the end of last week, more than 20 people across Germany have also lost their lives in swimming-related accidents, according to the German Life Saving Association.

The deputy director of the EU’s Copernicus Climate Change Service, Samantha Burgess, said the hot weather was due to a “heat dome” of trapped air from north Africa in a low-lying high-pressure system, preventing cooler air from moving in.

“While heat domes are a natural weather phenomenon, anthropogenic climate change is making heatwaves more severe and more likely to reach record-breaking temperatures,” she said.

Switzerland has also registered its hottest ever June temperature on Thursday, with 38 degrees measured in the northern city of Basel, breaking a previous record of 36.9 set eight decades ago, the Swiss weather service said.

While The Netherlands issued its first ever red alert for heat for Friday, warning of “dangerous” conditions.

Germany, Austria, Italy and the Czech Republic also face a torrid few days as temperatures are forecast to soar further east and south.

The national weather institute issued the alert for much of the country, where temperatures are forecast to reach 40 degrees in some places.

French Education Minister Edouard Geffray said that 13,500 schools were closed or placed on special schedules on Thursday while more than 1,000 schools were closed or partially closed in Britain.

AFP/Reuters