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A deadly heatwave is straining hospitals, transport systems and public services across Europe, as authorities from France to Poland warn that the continent is struggling to cope with days of punishing temperatures.
At least 101 million Europeans have endured temperatures above 35C, according to AFP, with several hundred people thought to have died, including a three-year-old found dead in a car in Paris and people who drowned while trying to cool off.
The heat has hit health systems particularly hard. In France, emergency rooms have reported a fourfold increase in heat-related visits, while cardiac arrests have surged.
Paris police chief Patrice Faure warned: “We are reaching a saturation point in hospital facilities. The number of hospitalisations keeps increasing.”
Authorities in the French capital have taken the rare step of banning evening alcohol sales and public drinking through the weekend, as hospitals struggle with rising admissions.
In the UK, the London Ambulance Service said Wednesday’s extreme heat led to its highest number of life-threatening emergency calls in a single day. Several NHS hospitals have also declared critical incidents after cooling failures disrupted medical equipment, operating theatres and wards, adding pressure to services already dealing with heatstroke, dehydration and vulnerable elderly patients.
The heatwave is now moving east. In Germany, where temperatures are expected to reach 40C through the weekend, several outdoor events have been cancelled, while rail operator Deutsche Bahn has advised people to avoid travel.
Poland has issued warnings as western parts of the country brace for similarly dangerous temperatures.
Southern Europe has already recorded a heavy toll. Spain’s MoMo mortality monitoring system said 212 deaths between Sunday and Wednesday could be linked to the heat, while Italian media reported five deaths, including farmworkers and a builder.
Scientists from the World Weather Attribution said in a study released Friday that human-caused climate change was “unequivocally” responsible for the intensity of the record-breaking heat in Britain, France, Spain and Switzerland. Such temperatures would have been “virtually impossible” in June fifty years ago, they said.
The UN’s climate chief Simon Stiell said the heatwave “has the fingerprints of the climate crisis all over it”, warning that extreme heat will keep worsening until humanity stops burning large amounts of coal, oil and gas.
Additional sources • AFP