Extreme heat

BRUSSELS • Researchers at the European Commission warned yesterday that nearly half of the European Union's territory is currently at risk of drought, as south-west Europe wilted under a punishing heatwave and ferocious wildfires devoured more forests.

In a report for this month, the European Commission's Joint Research Centre said that 46 per cent of the EU's territory was exposed to warning-level drought, with 11 per cent at an alert level, and crops already suffering from the lack of water.

Italy was the hardest hit, with the Po River basin in the north of the country facing the highest level possible of drought severity, the EU said.

In Spain, water reservoir volumes are currently 31 per cent lower than the 10-year average, the report said, while in Portugal, water to produce hydroelectric energy is at half the average of the previous seven years.

The EU researchers also warned that the lack of water and strong heat are driving crop yields lower in France, Romania, Spain, Portugal and Italy.

Weather forecasts predict more of the same, the report said, adding to an already "very critical situation" that will exacerbate the effects on agriculture, energy and water supply.

This comes as Britain and France, facing record temperatures, went on heatwave alert yesterday.

Forecasters in Britain warned of havoc in a country unprepared for the onslaught of extreme heat that the authorities said was putting lives at risk.

The mercury was set to rise to 38 deg C in London yesterday - not far below Britain's all-time record of 38.7 deg C - and could breach the 40 deg C mark for the first time by today, meteorologists said.

Scientists blame climate change and predict more frequent and intense episodes of extreme weather.

Across the Channel, firefighters failed to contain two massive fires in France's south-west that have created apocalyptic scenes of destruction. For six days, armies of firefighters and a fleet of waterbombing aircraft have struggled against blazes that have mobilised much of France's entire firefighting capacity.

Forecasters have put 15 French departments on the highest state of alert for extreme temperatures, including in the western Brittany region where the Atlantic coastal city of Brest was expected to hit 40 deg C yesterday, nearly twice its usual July temperature average.

By early afternoon, Brest had already beaten its all-time record of 35.2 deg C set in 1949.

The European heatwave, spreading north, is the second to engulf parts of the south-west of the continent within only weeks.

Blazes burning in France, Greece, Portugal and Spain have destroyed thousands of hectares of land and forced thousands of residents and holidaymakers to flee.

In France's Gironde region, firefighters yesterday continued their battle against forest blazes that have devoured nearly 14,000ha since last Tuesday. An area 9km long and 8km wide was still ablaze near the Dune de Pilat, Europe's highest sand dune, turning picturesque landscapes, popular campsites and pristine beaches into a scorching mess.

Another 8,000 people were being evacuated near the dune yesterday as changing winds blew thick smoke into residential areas, officials said. The evacuations added to the 16,000 tourists or residents already forced to decamp in France, many to emergency shelters.

"In some south-western areas, it will be a heat apocalypse," meteorologist Francois Gourand told AFP.

In Spain, fire burning in the north-western province of Zamora claimed the life of a 69-year-old shepherd, regional authorities said, the second death after that of a fireman a day before in the same area. The authorities have reported around 20 wildfires still raging from the south to Galicia in the far north-west, where blazes have destroyed around 4,500ha of land.

In Portugal, almost the entire country remained on high alert for wildfires despite a slight drop in temperatures which had hit 47 deg C - a record for the month of July - last Thursday. Fires have killed two, injured around 60 and destroyed between 12,000ha and 15,000ha of land in Portugal.

The British government, already on the ropes after a series of scandals and Prime Minister Boris Johnson's resignation, drew fresh criticism for failing to take the situation seriously enough. "This is serious heat that could actually, ultimately, end in people's deaths because it is so ferocious," College of Paramedics chief executive Tracy Nicholls told Sky News.

The Sun tabloid headlined its coverage of the heat "British Bake Off", observing that the "scorcher" was making Britain hotter than Ibiza where, indeed, temperatures were a comparatively paltry 30 deg C yesterday.

"It is a bit frightening," Ms Karina Lawford, 56, told AFP as she took a stroll by the sea in Tankerton on the north Kent coast, saying the heat reminded her of Australia, where she lives.

Britain's chief meteorologist Paul Davies said the heatwave was "entirely consistent with climate change", telling Sky News the "brutality" of the heatwave was "astounding" but could become a regular occurrence "by the end of the century".

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE