Europe sizzled under a continent-wide heatwave on Wednesday, with London bracing for Britain's hottest June day since 1976 as Portugal struggled to stamp out deadly forest fires.
More than 1,000 firefighters were still
battling to control the flames that broke out in central Portugal at the
weekend, killing at least 64 people.
Two forest fires have also broken out
since Sunday on Croatia's southern Adriatic coast, prompting the
authorities to evacuate 800 tourists, although the blazes have now been
brought under control.
"We were scared, it's true," Swedish
tourist Karolina told local media. "From the hotel room window it seemed
like the fire was at our doors."
As the northern hemisphere marked the
summer solstice -- the longest day of the year -- the mercury hovered
around 35 degrees Celsius (95 degrees Fahrenheit) across oven-like
swathes of Europe, including Italy, Austria, the Netherlands and even
alpine Switzerland.
Firefighters were on alert in Austria,
where revellers were set to mark the solstice by setting light to
hundreds of bonfires to celebrate the festival of Saint John -- a
tradition that goes on until the end of the month. Local authorities
also announced a ban on barbecues in public parks, another popular
tradition, to reduce the fire risk.
In Italy, forecasters say the current
heatwave could turn out to be the most intense in 15 years, with
temperatures around eight degrees above the seasonal average -- 39
degrees Celsius in Milan and up to 30 in the Alps at an altitude of
1,000 metres (3,300 feet).
A study released Monday warned that
deadly heatwaves will become more and more common around the world even
if the rise in temperatures is capped at 2.0 degrees C as targeted by
the Paris Agreement to combat climate change.
"Even if we outperform the Paris
targets, the population exposed to deadly heat will be about 50 percent
by 2100," Camilo Mora, lead author of the study published in the journal
Nature Climate Change, told AFP.
London sizzles
Britain was set to see its first five-day stretch of temperatures over 30 degrees C in June since 1995. The thermometer was forecast to hit 34 C in west London -- a record for the month since 1976.
In Guildford, southwest of the capital, a
road surface melted on Tuesday, with motorists likening it to a a bar
of chocolate left out in the hot sun.
At the prestigious Royal Ascot horse
races, organisers said they were considering relaxing the strict dress
code for the first time.
And a thunderstorm was looming over the
Glastonbury Music Festival, threatening mud just as an expected 200,000
revellers begin pitching their tents.
Music lovers in France were also braving
the heat, as the annual Fete de la Musique -- a nationwide celebration
with thousands of free street performances -- kicked off under an
official heatwave declared across swathes of the country.
Temperatures were due to peak Wednesday
at 37 degrees in the Centre-Val de Loire area south of Paris, while a
peak in pollution in the capital linked to the heat prompted police to
reduce speed limits in some areas and divert heavy goods vehicles.
On Tuesday, the body of a 31-year-old
man was pulled out of the Loire river after he got dragged down by the
current while trying to cool down.
In Russia, Siberia was also suffering a
heatwave, with temperatures of up to 37 C in the city of Krasnoyarsk,
Channel One television reported.
But at the other extreme, it was just
one degree Celsius and snowing in Murmansk in northern Russia, the RIA
Novosti news agency reported. Many residents are having to get by with
no heating in their flats as centralised systems have been switched off
for the summer.
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