Deadly heat continues to rage – snow removal is being deployed

Isak Fritzon

Updated 21.30 | Published 21.19

 

Snow removal vehicles are being deployed in Germany to cool down the roads. Photo: Jacob Schröter /AP/TT

Life-threatening records are succeeding each other.

Friday was the hottest day ever in Germany.

Now snow removal is being deployed to tackle the heat.

Germany: 41.3 degrees.

Great Britain: 37.3 degrees.

France: 43.8 degrees.

Records are standing like rods in the snow as Europe boils.

41.3 degrees in German Saarbrücken-Burbach means the hottest day ever in Germany, reports Bild.

The deadly heat does not come without consequences.

 

The thermometer in Rome showed 42 degrees this week. Photo: Alessandra Tarantino /AP/TT

Snow removal and snow cannons

The Hamburg half marathon has been canceled, the Autobahn near Brug has been closed due to cracks in the concrete and the state-owned train company Deutsche Bahn is offering free ticket cancellations.

In Thuringia, snow removal vehicles have been called in to cool the roads with water.

Snow cannons have been used as improvised fans to cool down overheated cows on a farm in Tremersdorf. Farmer Horst Amberg tells Bild that he is convinced that many cows would have died without the borrowed device.

More than 20 people have died in drowning accidents in the country, Reuters reports.

 

France has broken heat records this week. Photo: Christophe Ena /AP/TT

Four records – in one day

In Britain, the June heat record has been broken four times today alone, Sky News reports. It is the third day in a row that the record has been broken – this time in the small village of Santon Downham between Cambridge and Norwich.

Temperatures in Britain are expected to rise further and the country's weather service has extended the red warnings for extreme heat in London and eastern England.

Several hospitals have declared a state of emergency and London's ambulance service says it has handled the highest number of life-threatening emergency calls ever.

 

People in London protect themselves from the sun's rays. Photo: Kirsty Wigglesworth/AP

High death toll

In Spain, the death toll is estimated at 327 people, according to the Carlos III Health Institute in Madrid.

Earlier this week, the hottest day ever in France was 43.8 degrees in the village of Pissos, south of Bordeaux. At least 55 people have died in drowning accidents in the country as people try to escape the heat in cooling water, reports The Guardian.

Several young children have also died in France in recent days after being unable to get out of overheated cars.

 

Hot in Rome. Photo: Andrew Medichini /AP

Research team: Worst ever

All in all, the heat in Europe could be the worst heatwave ever – and emissions from fossil fuels have rapidly worsened the situation, according to the World Weather Attribution (WWA).

The researchers write that extreme heat leads to more deaths than all other natural disasters combined in Europe.

This type of extreme heat has become significantly more common. In 2003, such daytime temperatures were about ten times less common than today. The extremely hot nights were more than a hundred times less common, according to the WWA.