A heatwave that scorched western Europe for a week moved east on Saturday, shattering national temperature records, killing dozens of people, overwhelming hospitals and buckling roads. Scientists have warned that what feels extraordinary today may soon become routine.
Nearly 200 million people experienced temperatures above 35 degrees Celsius on Saturday alone. The question being asked from London to Prague is no longer whether climate change is making summers worse. It is how much worse they will get.
Which countries broke records and by how much?
The scale of Saturday’s records was striking even by the standards of a continent that has grown used to summer extremes.
- New records set: Germany hit 41.5°C, Czech Republic 40.8°C, Denmark 37°C since 1874, Switzerland 38.8°C.
- UK heat streak: Friday was the UK’s hottest June day ever at 37.3°C, breaking the record for the third day in a row.
- East on alert: Romania, Slovakia, Hungary, Moldova and Balkan nations issued top-level heat alerts as extreme heat spreads east.
How many people have died, and why are hospitals struggling?
In France, authorities said around 40 people had drowned in the past week, many swimming in unsupervised areas to escape the heat. Paris hospitals recorded nearly 3,000 emergency room visits for a second consecutive day, about a third above normal. The Paris public hospital authority activated its emergency response plan across all 38 hospitals, with phone calls to medical dispatch centres running nearly 80 per cent higher than the same period last year.
The authority’s director, Nicolas Revel, said he did not expect the death toll to reach the catastrophic levels seen in 2003, when a heatwave killed 15,000 people in France, partly because treatment for heat illness has improved.
Story continues below this ad
“I think we’ll be situated, clearly, between 2025 and without necessarily reaching the catastrophic level of 2003,” he told AP. “But we have to expect that there will still be many deaths.”
In Britain, police recovered the bodies of a 22-year-old man and a 15-year-old boy from a lake and a river on Saturday, bringing the week’s heat-related death toll in the UK to four.
In the western German city of Dormagen, dozens of nursing home residents were evacuated after temperatures inside the building reached 35 degrees Celsius. A resident died overnight, though it was not immediately clear whether the heat was responsible, AP reported.
What is the heat doing to roads, rails and power?
In Germany, sections of the A2 motorway buckled and burst outside Berlin, forcing road closures. Rail operator Deutsche Bahn advised against all non-essential travel over the weekend, saying the country’s transport network was being severely tested.
Story continues below this ad
In Belgium, hundreds of Eurostar passengers were evacuated after train failures left them without air conditioning. British hospitals reported equipment failures, including MRI machines and IT systems. Tourist attractions, including Tower Bridge and the Royal Observatory, temporarily shut their doors.
Energy production has also taken a hit. Switzerland shut down both reactors at the Beznau nuclear plant after the Aare River grew too warm to cool them. France reduced output at several nuclear reactors for similar reasons, while Hungary’s Paks plant cut capacity at one of its four reactors after the Danube’s temperature exceeded regulatory limits.
Authorities said households would not face power shortages but urged consumers to cut use during peak evening hours.
What had to be cancelled?
Paris postponed its Pride march and cancelled a three-day music festival. Belgium called off its annual Battle of Waterloo re-enactment. Street parties and music events were abandoned across France, Germany and the Netherlands. Hundreds of schools closed across Britain.
Story continues below this ad
Italy placed 18 cities including Venice, Florence, Bologna and Milan on red heat alert, as tourists sought shade near fountains and street vendors did brisk business selling bottled water and sun hats.
Is climate change to blame?
A study published Friday by the World Weather Attribution group found that the temperatures seen across Europe this week would have been virtually impossible half a century ago and are now 200 times more likely than they were just 20 years ago.
André Corrêa do Lago, president of the United Nations climate talks known as COP30, said the heatwave had sharpened the sense of urgency around global action.
“The fact that we are living with this amazing heat in London is a strong argument, we need to agree, that we have to take action as soon as possible,” he told AP.
Story continues below this ad
Scientists said the heatwave is being driven by a heat dome trapping hot air from North Africa over much of the continent. As global temperatures continue to rise, such events are expected to become more frequent, longer and more intense.
Conditions in the UK were expected to ease gradually over the weekend, though an amber heat warning remained in place. In France, the number of regions under extreme heat alerts fell from a peak of 72 on Thursday to 37 on Saturday, suggesting some relief was on the way for western Europe.