Europe braces for blistering June weekend heat
PARIS, June 18, ( AFP) - France, Spain and other western European nations braced on Saturday for a sweltering June weekend that is set to break records and sparked concern about forest fires and the effects of climate change.
Temperatures already nudged over 40 degrees Celsius in parts of France on Friday.
The weather on Saturday represents a peak of a June heatwave that is in line with warnings from scientists that such phenomena will now hit earlier than usual thanks to climate change.
Temperatures are due to relent slightly from Sunday with thunderstorms forecast in parts of France and elsewhere in Europe.
In Spain, forest fires burned nearly 9,000 hectares of land in the northwest Sierra de la Culebra region Friday, forcing some 200 people from their homes, regional authorities said. And more than 3,000 people were evacuated from the Puy du Fou theme park in central Spain due to a fierce fire nearby.
Firefighters were battling fires in several other regions, including woodlands in Catalonia where weather conditions complicated the fight.
Temperatures were above 35 Celsius in most parts of the country.
More than half of French departments were at the highest or second- highest heat alert level.
“Hospitals are at capacity, but are keeping up with demand,” Health Minister Brigitte Bourguignon told reporters in Vienne, near Lyon in the southeast.
Schoolchildren were told to stay at home in departments at alert level “red” and the health ministry activated a special heatwave hotline.
The Red Cross also organised efforts to distribute fresh water to the homeless community in Toulouse, where temperatures are expected to soar to 38 Celsius on Saturday.
“There are more deaths of people in the streets in the summer than in the winter,” said volunteer Hugues Juglair, 67.
Meanwhile rock and metal fans at the music festival Hellfest in western France were sprayed with water from hoses and enormous vaporisers in front of the stage as they headbanged or bounced to an opening- day line- up including Deftones and The Offspring.
“This is the earliest heatwave ever recorded in France” since 1947, said Matthieu Sorel, a climatologist at Meteo France. With “many monthly or even all-time temperature records likely to be beaten in several regions,” he called the weather a “marker of climate change”.
Several towns in northern Italy have announced water rationing and the Lombardy region may declare a state of emergency as a record drought threatens harvests.
The UK recorded its hottest day of the year on Friday with temperatures reaching over 30 Celsius in the early afternoon, meteorologists said.
There are more deaths of people in the streets in the summer than in the winter,