Dramatic Repercussions of the Unprecedented Heatwave on European Countries

Hundreds of deaths were recorded due to the severe heatwave that struck Spain and Portugal, France, and the UK. Thousands of families were evacuated in France, Spain, and Portugal and the high heat fires destroyed large areas of forests in southern European countries. While the British authorities declared an unprecedented state of emergency across the country because of the heat wave.

In Spain, the Carlos III Health Institute declared that the heat wave killed 360 people within a week. From his side, the Portuguese Ministry of Health indicated that 238 people died as a consequence of the heat wave between July 7 and 13 of the same month, most of them elder people with chronic diseases.

Authorities in the southwestern French provinces of Nouvelle-Aquitaine and La Gironde said that more than 12,200 people were evacuated from the forest-affected area by Saturday, July 16, while more than 1,000 firefighters were trying to control the blazes of about 100 square kilometers in the territory of La Gironde.

 

Heatwave Hotspot

Across Europe, extreme temperatures have led to dangerous heat waves and wildfires. The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) urges cities and communities to prepare to avoid another disaster.

Since May, Europe has been among the world's fastest heatwave hotspots. Forecasts show no signs of easing. Many parts of Western Europe are experiencing extreme temperatures and countries like Portugal are battling raging forest fires affecting thousands of people.

"With the climate crisis, this heat is part of our 'new normal.’ These deadly events are now more frequent and more intense," explains Maarten Aalst van, director of the climate center of the Red Cross and Red Crescent.

In France, a new heat wave began on Sunday, July 17, and lasted until Tuesday. The hot air came directly from Spain and Portugal, countries where several heat records have already been broken. The highest temperature was recorded on July 14 47°C in Portugal.

In the capital, Lisbon, 41.4°C was recorded, a temperature recorded for the first time during the month of July.

As for Greece, the AFP reported that the battle against the flames left two dead on Wednesday when a helicopter crashed into the sea while trying to put out a forest fire on the island of Samos.

The Portuguese civil protection services announced that more than 2,000 firefighters were mobilized across the country on July 15 to fight the active fires.

According to data available on the website of the European Forest Fire Information System (EFFIS), only in one week, the fires ravaged some 13,500 hectares.

In the southwest of France, the firefighters were mobilized to successfully evacuate more than 14,000 people from their homes and campsites as wildfires raged. However, the press release published by the departmental police indicated that more than 11,000 hectares have been destroyed by two large forest fires and six water bomber aircraft were also deployed.

In 2003, more than 61,500 hectares of forest were lost during the very hot weather in August, which lasted 16 consecutive days. The Var department alone accounts for a third of the area of ​​forest burned in 2003," specifies Vincent Clément, lecturer at the École Normale Supérieure in Lyon, in his report "Mediterranean France on fire."

It is necessary to mention that 19 years ago, in Portugal fires ravaged 40% of the country's total forest area and killed 18 people. While in Spain, 300 km2 of forest has already disappeared, including more than 13 km2 in Catalonia.

 

Red Alert

The peak of heat is spreading in the north of France and experts expect that it will not stop there. The Met Office of the British national meteorological service, issued for the first time a red alert for "extreme heat" amid anticipation of record temperatures that could exceed 40°C.

For now, the record temperature in the United Kingdom is 38.7°C. However, this record could be exceeded, assures the Met Office. “Some models have been producing maximum temperatures above 40°C in parts of the UK over the coming weekend and beyond," said Rebekah Sherwin, the Met Office's deputy chief meteorologist.

In 2003, in the United Kingdom, the heat wave spread mainly in the south, but the heat was less intense than in France, and with a shorter duration.

Climate specialist at the Met Office, Nikos Christidis pointed out to AFP that "global warming already influences the possibility of extreme temperatures in the country."

He explained that the risks of reaching 40°C could be ten times more likely in the current climate than in natural conditions without the dire consequences of human intervention. The UK Met Service pointed out that "The increase in the frequency, duration, and intensity of these events over recent decades is clearly linked to the observed warming of the planet and can be attributed to human activity."

 

Scary Future

The Washington Post stressed that the continuous heat waves that the world is witnessing now, give a microcosm of what will happen in the future if global warming continues without efforts to curb it.

The newspaper quoted the warning of the committee of the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change saying that even if the world manages to keep global temperature rise below 1.5 percent—which is a threshold that scientists believe should not be exceeded—the severe weather events that people will experience will almost quadruple than they are now.

The likely temperature increase of more than 1.5% would have catastrophic repercussions, including famine, disease, migration, and lower levels of productivity and living standards around the world.

The Washington Post pointed out that high heat waves this summer—and over the past years—resulted in many dramatic weather events in the United States and around the world. In Texas, for example, record temperatures have forced the company that operates the state's power grid to warn residents to cut back on energy use or risk blackouts.