Hundreds of millions of people around the world suffer from extreme heat on Wednesday, as record-breaking heat waves scorch swathes of inland Europe, scorch the US and put dozens of Chinese cities on alert.
Five separate high-pressure weather systems in the Northern Hemisphere, linked by atmospheric waves, have led to unprecedented temperatures on multiple continents.
The UK broke its all-time hottest record on Tuesday, as did several cities in Texas and Oklahoma, including Wichita Falls, which hit 46.1°C on Tuesday.
As Europe’s heat wave moves eastward, wildfires have forced tens of thousands of people to flee their homes, covering parts of Italy, Greece and France in smoke. Germany, Hungary and Italy were hit with high temperatures of almost 38°C in some places.
The European Forest Fire Information System placed 19 European countries on “extreme danger” alerts for wildfires on Wednesday, stretching from Portugal and Spain in the southwest to Albania and Turkey in the southeast.
There was a lull in the UK, where temperatures dropped from an all-time high of 40.3°C on Tuesday back to 20°C. But some residential areas around London were left in ruins after fires raged in parts of the capital, pushing the fire service to the limit.
“Yesterday was the busiest day for the fire service in London since the Second World War,” London Mayor Sadiq Khan told Sky News on Wednesday, as residents of the capital watched their homes destroyed in blazes. by the heat they never thought possible.
A resident of Wennington, a London suburb affected by Tuesday’s fires, told CNN that the gardens on his street were “like a lighter” in the days leading up to the fire. Stock lost her house, eight chickens and two beehives when the fire started.
“I didn’t sleep last night. I was in the hotel room thinking about how bad it could have been. I just thank God they all made it out alive,” he said. “We lost everything. But when we get back, we can clean the place up, put up some fences, rent a trailer and start over.”
London had no fire engines available at one point in the afternoon amid unprecedented demand, a senior firefighter with the London Fire Brigade’s special rescue team told CNN .
In the United States, local leaders are urging caution and issuing health warnings as a heat wave that shows no signs of slowing down before the weekend continues to bake the south-central regions of the country.
And in China, millions of densely populated cities are responding to extreme heat. According to the China Meteorological Administration, at least 31 Chinese cities have issued the second highest heat alert, with temperatures predicted to reach 37°C in the next 24 hours.
Europe burns in record heat
Greece
On the outskirts of the Greek capital Athens, firefighters are fighting large fires that are being ignited by the wind. At least 600 people were evacuated, including from a children’s hospital, officials said. One person died and 30 were transferred to hospitals in the capital’s Attica region, the Greek fire department said on Wednesday.
“Our top priority remains the protection of human lives. But also vital public infrastructure, as well as citizens’ properties,” said spokesperson Ioannis Artopoios during a televised update.
Huge clouds of smoke remained visible in the city on Wednesday despite the efforts of hundreds of firefighters, and Romanian officials were called in to help with the operation.
Italy
Flames are also being fought in parts of Italy. Forest fires in Tuscany caused gas tanks to explode and forced evacuations overnight, according to regional president Eugenio Giani.
Germany
In Alsdorf, western Germany, three residents and two firefighters were injured in a blaze on Tuesday, and much of the country is braced for more fires as temperatures rise on Wednesday.
France
In France, aircraft continue to pour water over burning landscapes. The fires have been raging for a week, although they advanced “very little” on Tuesday night in the Gironde region, according to local officials. Smoke swirled over the Brennilis nuclear power plant in Brittany on Wednesday morning.
Just as the UK prime minister has been criticized for a lack of preparation for the heat wave, Frenchman Emmanuel Macron is also under pressure to respond more quickly to the heat and fires, which have already burned 25 times more land in France than in the same period last year, government spokesman Olivier Veran told reporters on Wednesday.
On Tuesday, the fire-hit Gironde region asked for additional resources, including the diversion of firefighting aircraft to the scene.
One camp owner told BFMTV, an affiliate of the CNN on Tuesday, that “we have demands” for Macron, who will pay a visit to the devastated southwest on Wednesday.
“We hope he can very quickly request that the public services help us, support us in the administrative steps to get the camp up and running as quickly as possible,” said Stephane Carella, co-owner of Pyla Camping, which was destroyed by fires.
“Everything went up in smoke,” he said, with about 90% of his property affected by the fire. Carella described the remains of the site as “apocalyptic”.
High temperatures hit the US
The scorching weather in the US has so far focused on parts of the south and is raising particular concern for the well-being of the elderly, vulnerable and homeless.
In Texas, 14 prisons do not have air conditioning and 55 have systems that are only partially working, the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) told CNN by email.
Texas has had at least four heat waves this season, a heat wave that began to affect the state before the official start of summer. Since May 1, more than half of its days have come with some level of heat alert.
As temperatures in neighboring Arizona soared on Tuesday afternoon, about 7,000 people were left without power due to severe storms, a spokesperson for the Arizona Public Service Company said.
In some areas, like Miami-Dade County and Phoenix, local governments have hired heating chiefs to help residents fight the heat.
Much of the north of the country and parts of Canada are also bracing for rising temperatures.
Philadelphia has declared a “heat caution” beginning at noon on Tuesday and extending until 8 pm. ET Thursday, the city said in an email to CNN . It also declared a “code red” alert for homeless people in the area.
The Canadian government issued severe heat and storm warnings in at least four provinces on Tuesday.
Source: CNN Brasil
I’m James Harper, a highly experienced and accomplished news writer for World Stock Market. I have been writing in the Politics section of the website for over five years, providing readers with up-to-date and insightful information about current events in politics. My work is widely read and respected by many industry professionals as well as laymen.
