Are you ready for blistering Britain?
‘National emergency’ alert ahead of hottest day in UK history
BRITAIN was on red alert yesterday as a national emergency was declared in the countdown to the UK’s hottest day in history.
In a day of dire warnings, health chiefs said that even the fit and healthy could die with parts of the country forecast to reach an unprecedented 41C (106F) on Monday and Tuesday.
A ‘danger to life’ red warning for extreme heat was issued for the first time, for an area including London, Manchester and York. Forecasters say there is an 80 per cent chance of the mercury topping Britain’s record temperature of 38.7C (101.7F) set in Cambridge in 2019.
People were warned not to travel amid fears melting tarmac and twisted rail lines could cause chaos, while bosses were urged to consider giving workers time off, schools planned to close early and hospitals cancelled routine appointments.
Network Rail advised people to travel only if absolutely necessary, with speed restrictions and disruption likely.
Ambulance trusts – already struggling to cope with demand – face a further 20 per cent rise in call-outs for heat-related illnesses. NHS chiefs even warned ambulance may catch fire due to the ‘build-up of oxygen’ as they queue outside hospitals in sweltering heat.
Some hospitals have stood down routine outpatient appointments and surgery to reduce the risk to ‘frail’ patients travelling into hospital – and to free up capacity for extra emergency patients.
Many primary and secondary schools are closing or having shorter days, with some setting work for them to do at home, while others are keeping children inside at break times and cancelling sports days.
The Department for Education said it was ‘not advising schools to close’, but emailed school leaders yesterday telling them they could look at ‘closing classrooms that are too hot’ – believed to be those in excess of 30C.
There were also warnings of power cuts, with the extreme heat making it harder for essential systems and equipment to cool.
The Energy Networks Association, representing companies who run the electricity and gas grid, say they are monitoring their systems and are putting extra engineers and equipment on standby.
Many of those lucky enough to be off work are looking forward to being able to cool off in the sea
But experts stressed the heatwave amounts to extreme weather and needs to be taken seriously.
The increasingly doom-laden warnings came after the Met Office upgraded its amber warning for extreme heat to red.
It means ‘adverse health effects’ may be experienced and will not be limited to ‘those most vulnerable to extreme heat’. The ‘exceptional hot spell’ will lead to ‘widespread impacts on people and infrastructure’, it added.
The UK Health Security Agency raised its heat health warning from Level 3 to Level 4 – a ‘national emergency’ where ‘illness and death may occur among the fit and healthy, and not just in high-risk groups’.
Level 4 is reached when ‘a heatwave is so severe and/or prolonged that its effects extend outside the health and social care system’.
Climate experts called the heatwave worrying. Prof Hannah Cloke, natural hazards researcher at Reading University, said: ‘Even as a climate scientist who studies this stuff, this is scary. This feels real. At the start of the week I was worried about my goldfish getting too hot. Now I’m worried about the survival of my family and my neighbours.’
The hot weather is being caused by a southerly air flow from the continent, where Spain and Portugal have recorded 47C (117F).
The Met Office’s chief executive, Penny Endersby, warned that Britons were unprepared for dealing with such extreme heat.
She added: ‘We’re used to treating a hot spell as a chance to go and play in the sun. This is not that sort of weather. Please treat the warnings we are putting out as seriously as you would a red or amber warning for wind or snow and follow the advice. Stay out of the sun, keep your home cool, think about adjusting your plans.’
Beaches are expected to be thronged for the next few days, with the RNLI predicting a ‘busy weekend’. In what is feared could be the first of many water-related tragedies, paddleboarder Emma Louise Powell, 24, from Llandudno, North Wales, died after getting into difficulty in the water off nearby Conwy on Thursday evening.