Star Metro - Europe swelters under record-breaking heatwave

AFP estimates based on analysis of forecasts from the German weather service and 2025 population projections from the Joint Research Centre suggest maximum temperatures will surpass 30C for more than 350 million people -- more than two-thirds of the continent's population.

The extreme weather -- whose effects have been made worse by buildings and infrastructure not designed to cope with high temperatures -- is being driven by atmospheric patterns trapping hot air.

But a scientific study published this week said the current heatwave was "significantly exacerbated by human-induced climate change", without which the current temperatures would have been 2-4C cooler.

The World Health Organization's head Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus warned on Wednesday that the heatwave is imperilling the health of Europeans, urging the continent's leaders to invest in making their health services more climate-resilient.

- 'We're suffocating' -

Around 44 million of the nearly 67 million people in France are currently under the highest red alert level for heat, according to an AFP estimate.

Average daytime and nighttime temperatures reached 29.8C on Tuesday -- the hottest since current records began in 1947 -- with 39C to 41C expected on Wednesday from northwestern Brittany to Paris.

Conditions at schools, offices and factories have become unbearable as temperatures rise, forcing early closures and employees to work from home.

"We're suffocating," said Nordine El Kaouri, 48, an automotive worker at a Renault plant in Douai, northern France.

"We feel waves of heat. Some people even faint at times. It's extremely, extremely hard to keep up at work," he told AFP.

On a building site in London, electrician Harrison Hammond, 29, said bosses had told employees to take the heat seriously.

But he said it was "a different story" as he travelled home by train to Essex, east of the British capital, on Tuesday night.

"They had no air conditioning on. Everyone was really suffering," he said.

- Power cuts -

Power outages have been reported in France, including in the northwest department of Finistere, where high temperatures knocked out a transformer late on Tuesday, leaving about 68,000 households without electricity.

In the UK, where temperatures are forecast to hit nearly 40C, electricity grid operator Neso warned that supply could be squeezed due to pressure on the system.

Sales of fans and air conditioners have skyrocketed.

French hypermarket Carrefour on Monday said it had sold 30,000 units by 6:30 pm -- "a thousand times more than on a normal day", CEO Alexandre Bompard said.

Engineer Yana Markevich complained about legal restrictions in the UK on installing air conditioning, which has been criticised by some green campaigners for its high energy consumption.

"We already live in a world where heatwaves are becoming more intense. I don't think denying ordinary people access to proper cooling in their own homes is a serious climate policy," she told AFP.

- Tourism hit -

June is a key month for tourism in Europe but popular landmarks, including the Eiffel Tower and Louvre museum in Paris, and the stainless steel Atomium in Brussels, have been shutting early because of the heat.

"Visiting Paris in this heat is awful," said American engineer John Beeler, wearing a fisherman's hat and holding a small fan.

"We're suffocating in the streets, we're suffocating in the subway and we're even suffocating in our rental," he said, adding that they would be moving to an air-conditioned hotel room.

Curators at University College London's Grant Museum of Zoology said some of the thousands of specimens it houses from across the world were potentially under threat.

Head of zoology and science collections Tannis Davidson said one of the specimen jars broke in the heat last year.

"We've been considering at what point we're going to have to preventatively decant a bunch of jars", she said.

The heatwave is expected to extend into eastern Europe in the coming days.

Croatia's popular Adriatic coast was also put under red alert for Friday and Saturday, while Hungary said it was imposing a maximum level alert from Saturday to Tuesday.

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S.Cloutier--SMC