As heatwave scorches on, fears that Britain will run bone dry

AS Britain gears up for a second week of brutal heat, rivers and reservoirs are running dry – with only 0.1mm of rain since the start of July.

With forecasters issuing doomladen warnings of ‘hundreds if not thousands of excess deaths’ in another scorching hot spell beginning on Sunday, ministers yesterday held their second Cobra civil contingencies committee meeting of the week.

Ministers at the meeting were informed that the NHS is facing a ‘surge’ in demand from heat-related conditions. The Met Office is still predicting temperatures on Monday or Tuesday could exceed the record 38.7C (102F) recorded in Cambridge in 2019.

Reservoirs were yesterday particularly low in Yorkshire, where 5million customers have been warned that a hosepipe ban – a measure not seen in Britain for a decade – cannot be ruled out.

While others in the Peak District appeared down to little more than a trickle. Some rivers were also running dry, with water levels on the Waveney in Suffolk ‘exceptionally low’, according to the Environment Agency, and the River Teifi in Wales at record low levels.

With the exception of Yorkshire Water, which has seen reservoirs dwindle to levels not seen since 1995, water companies say supplies are still healthy – although all have urged customers to cut down on how much they use during sunny weather.

Across England, average rainfall in the first 12 days of the month was 5.1mm (0.2in), less than a tenth of the average for the whole of July, 66.48mm (2.62in).

West Sussex, the Isle of Wight and the City of London all recorded just 0.1mm (0.003in) of rain between July 1 and July 12, according to the Met Office.

It added last night that some parched areas of England have received a third less rainfall than normal between January and June.

Farmers have warned that dry soil could cut yields of barley, wheat and other crops, potentially further exacerbating the cost of living crunch. Richard Bramley, chairman of the National Farmers’ Union’s environment forum, said the industry’s approach to water management was ‘ way behind’ the challenges of a changing climate.

The end of this week has seen lower temperatures but an ‘amber’ warning remains in place for much of England and Wales from Sunday through to Tuesday night.

After chairing a second meeting of Cobra yesterday, Cabinet Office minister Kit

Malthouse said the Government was preparing for a ‘surge’ in demand on the NHS and other services.

He told BBC Radio 4’s The World At One that ‘individual behavioural change’ was of ‘critical’ importance.

That meant doing ‘all the stuff they would do when it is very hot - wear a hat, drink water’, but also keeping an eye on vulnerable groups such as the elderly and young babies.

Experts have described extreme heat as a ‘silent killer’, with more than 2,500 heat- related deaths recorded in England in the summer of 2020.

‘Cut down on water usage’