Britain’s heatwave threatens to hit hottest day ever as bushfires rage across Europe

Some public health experts have predicted that hundreds if not thousands of people could die in the UK before temperatures dip into the high 70s on Wednesday. During the heat wave in 2003, about 2,000 people died from the heat in the United Kingdom and 15,000 in France.

“I fear that the excess deaths on Monday and Tuesday should be expected” in the “thousands of deaths”, Sir David King, the former chief scientist in the British government, told LBC Radio. This could amount to “10,000” deaths, he said.

“Even as a climatologist who studies these things, it’s scary,” Professor Hannah Kluck, a natural hazard researcher at the University of Reading, said. She told NBC News’ partner, Sky News: on Monday. “This is a real feeling. At the beginning of the week I was worried that my goldfish would get too hot. Now I am worried about the survival of my family and neighbors.”

Miriam Deakin, executive vice president for NHS Providers, told Sky the publicly funded NHS, already strained by Covid-19 and long-standing capacity issues, had reported that some operating rooms had paused surgery until the degree of control was under control. the heat. News.

Deakin said the sweltering heat meant “the NHS is planning and seeing increased demand for urgent and emergency care services to make room for that.”

In an effort to avoid mass casualties, the government has advised people to stay home, close windows and blinds, and look out for elderly or frail neighbors. Newspapers published “Heatwave Tales,” which asked people to cover their windows with tin foil and put snow on their cooling fans.

Already high temperatures are affecting travel, with London’s Luton Airport suspending flights for several hours on Monday after harsh conditions affected its runway.

“Flights have been temporarily suspended to allow repair of the primary runway after high temperatures on the surface caused a small portion to lift,” the airport said in a statement, and flights have since resumed.

The Royal Air Force was also forced to suspend flights at Brisbane Norton due to the heat wave, saying in a statement on Monday that the aircraft were using alternative airfields and that there was “no impact on RAF operations”.

Authorities are urging drivers to stay off the roads in the middle of the day, as some local governments deploy salt trucks to sprinkle sand on the asphalt in an effort to prevent it from melting.

Network Rail, which manages the country’s rail infrastructure, has told people not to travel, warning that the heat could clamp down on rails and announcing speed restrictions.

Elsewhere, utility companies said they are monitoring potential blackouts and water shortages.

Some schools will close early, and children will be allowed a day off from the starchy, button-down uniforms common here.

Meanwhile, the Gironde region in southwest France is among a group of European regions that are currently on fire. The wildfires there spread to 27,000 acres — more than half the size of Washington, D.C. — and 14,000 people fled their homes.

“This is not just summer,” French Senator Melanie Vogel wrote on Twitter. It is “just hell” and will soon become “merely the end of human life” if we continue our climate inaction.”

In Portugal, another place where wildfires are burning, more than 650 people have died as the temperature exceeded 116 degrees.

Fire officials in Greece said, Saturday, that 71 fires broke out in the past 24 hours.

A study published in June in the journal “Environmental Research: Climate” concluded that it is very likely that climate change has exacerbated heat waves, according to Reuters.

Reuters And the Rima Abdel Qader Contributed.