France records around 1,000 additional deaths amid extreme heat wave leading to European records

BERLIN (AP) — France saw around 1,000 additional deaths last week at the height of its record-smashing heat wave, the country’s public health agency said Sunday, as Europeans elsewhere were suffering through yet another day of new temperature highs that sparked wildfires in Germany and had Berlin police using water cannons to cool down the crowds.

Temperature records were toppled in several countries on the weekend as the heat wave slowly moved toward eastern parts of the continent.

In Germany, a new nighttime temperature record was reported Sunday from Kubschütz, in eastern Saxony, where the temperature did not drop below 29.4 degrees Celsius (84.9 Fahrenheit). The nightly record came only hours after a daytime record of 41.5 C (106.7 F) in Möckern-Drewitz in Saxony-Anhalt, according to preliminary data by the German Weather Service DWD. The previous record was set a day earlier.

A new study from the World Weather Attribution, a Europe-based collaboration of scientists, reported Friday that the record-breaking heat and humidity in Europe this week would not have been possible without climate change.

The rapid study found that the heat would have been virtually impossible just five decades ago, and is 200 times more likely today than it would have been 20 years ago.

France records surge in deaths during heat wave

France saw a surge in deaths last week at the height of its record-smashing heat wave, including a sharp increase in calls to private homes, especially in the Paris region, the national public health agency said Sunday.

There were more than 1,200 deaths on Wednesday, when France was sweltering under its hottest temperatures ever, increasing to more than 1,400 deaths on each of the two following days, Public Health France said.

In April and May, before the heat wave, France’s rate of deaths was about 900 to 1,000 per day, it said.

The agency concluded that France experienced a total of at least 1,000 additional deaths during those three days alone, an estimate it cautioned is likely to increase as more data is collected, including for deaths at home.

The increase in deaths was sharpest in areas under red warnings of extreme heat, it said. Those warnings blanketed about three-quarters of the country at the peak of the heat wave. The agency said that 85% of the deaths involved people aged 65 and above.

Heat sparks wildfires in forests contaminated with WWII ammunition

In Gohrischheide, in eastern Germany, a fire broke out in a large forest that’s still contaminated with ammunition from World War II, which made the firefighters’ efforts to put out the flames even more dangerous and complicated.

Similarly, a major firefighting operation was underway in southwest Germany near the town of Traisen, where the heat sparked a forest fire in an area that also contained unexploded ordnance. Firefighting efforts had to be temporarily suspended after explosions took place and an ordnance disposal unit was brought in to continuously assess the situation, German news agency dpa reported.

In addition, the big cities’ fire departments were busy sending out ambulances to people suffering from heat-related illnesses. In Berlin, an additional 500 ambulance dispatches were reported on Saturday, most of them heat-related.

Berlin police uses water cannons to cool down locals and tourists

The German capital’s police found a unique way to help suffering Berliners and tourists alike. They put up two huge water cannons — usually used to disperse unruly protesters — in front of the city’s iconic Brandenburg Gate and sprayed the cool water across the cheering crowd.

The heat also continued to damage the country’s infrastructure with the concrete surface on countless highways breaking up, and a weekend warning by national rail operator Deutsche Bahn to avoid all unnecessary train travel.

In the eastern city of Leipzig, no trams will be running until early Monday morning due to heat damage to tracks and switches. The Leipzig Public Transportation Authority said that the high temperatures had caused the joint sealant for asphalt and concrete in switches and tracks to run and clump together in many places throughout the city’s network.

Greece is on alert for high fire risk, while Denmark is hit by thunderstorms

In Greece, in southeastern Europe, the country’s Civil Protection agency warned of a “very high fire risk” in five regions of the country on Sunday.

Wildfires are especially challenging in Greece, which has a dry mountainous mainland and over 100 inhabited islands, prompting authorities to introduce innovative space technology to help put them out quickly.

In Denmark, in northern Europe, which marked new temperature records on Saturday, the extreme heat was followed by heavy thunderstorms.

By Sunday morning, the country had recorded 1,156 lighting strikes, according to public broadcaster DR.

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Leicester reported from Paris.

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