{"id":128317,"date":"2026-06-26T18:41:03","date_gmt":"2026-06-26T13:41:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/?p=128317"},"modified":"2026-06-26T18:41:05","modified_gmt":"2026-06-26T13:41:05","slug":"europe-on-high-alert-as-killer-heat-spreads","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/128317\/","title":{"rendered":"Europe on high alert as killer heat spreads"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Web desk(National Times)-  Health authorities across Europe were on high alert on Friday as a killer heatwave progressed across the continent, prompting alcohol bans in France and cracking road surfaces open in Germany.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">From Britain and France to Germany, Italy, Austria and Serbia, Europe sizzled under a record-breaking ball of heat rolling across the region. Scientists said the heatwave was the worst recorded for Europe, where the climate is changing faster than anywhere else.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Temperatures were probably past their peak in France and Britain, where records for June have been broken. But in Italy, the heat was expected to intensify into the weekend, bringing the summer\u2019s first readings of 40 degrees Celsius.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">At least 55 deaths linked to the heatwave have been reported in&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dawn.com\/news\/2010275\">France<\/a>, where temperatures in Paris hit 40.9\u00b0C on Wednesday. Even though temperatures were expected to ease, authorities braced for more casualties.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Across the continent, cultural landmarks have been forced to close, and farming has suffered. Paris police asked organisers of major events, including the Solidays music festival, to cancel them. Organisers of the Pride festival said they would reschedule.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dawn.com\/news\/2011043\/europe-on-high-alert-as-killer-heat-spreads#england-and-netherlands-at-code-red\"><\/a>England and Netherlands at code red<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Extreme heat caused the surface of the A2 motorway in eastern Germany to buckle and rupture over several lanes on Thursday evening, according to the&nbsp;<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bz-berlin.de\/brandenburg\/hitze-laesst-autobahn-aufreissen-bis-zu-30-autos-beschaedigt\"><em>BZ<\/em>&nbsp;newspaper<\/a>, damaging up to 30 vehicles, leaving two people with minor injuries and forcing the highway to be closed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Britain\u2019s Met Office extended a red heat alert into Friday for a large area of southern England, the first time such warnings have been issued for three consecutive days.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A rare \u2018code red\u2019 alert for extreme heat was issued for almost the whole of the Netherlands and many schools were closed as temperatures up to 40\u00b0C were expected.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In Serbia, authorities issued an amber alert, with temperatures of around 36\u00b0C expected. Officials in Belgrade warned people to drink and stay indoors during the hottest hours.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Fans flew off the shelves in Britain and Asian air conditioning manufacturers reported a European sales&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dawn.com\/news\/amp\/2010775\">boom<\/a>. In France, the state-owned power utility EDF pledged to spend \u20ac80 million ($90m) on cooling systems for schools, kindergartens and day-care centres.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">According to the most recent data from the OECD-affiliated International Energy Agency (IEA), issued in July 2025, household ownership of air conditioning in Europe remains relatively low, at around 20pc.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dawn.com\/news\/2011043\/europe-on-high-alert-as-killer-heat-spreads#omega-block-heat-bulge-over-europe\"><\/a>\u2018Omega block\u2019 heat bulge over Europe<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The heatwave, which has pushed temperatures as much as 18\u00b0C above their seasonal average, according to the&nbsp;<em>Reuters<\/em>&nbsp;Climate Monitor, is being driven by a weather pattern known as an&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dawn.com\/news\/2010657\">Omega block<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This traps a bulging ball of hot air over regions for extended periods, with cooler weather on its fringes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Scientists said the record-breaking heatwave would have been \u201cvirtually impossible\u201d without&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dawn.com\/news\/2010891\">human-caused<\/a>&nbsp;climate change, which has made this week\u2019s stiflingly hot night-time temperatures 100 times more likely than they would have been even two decades ago.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cOver the region studied, this heatwave is the most severe ever recorded,\u201d the World Weather Attribution group of climate scientists said in their&nbsp;<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.worldweatherattribution.org\/fossil-fuel-emissions-have-rapidly-worsened-european-heatwaves-in-just-a-few-decades\/\">latest analysis<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dawn.com\/news\/2011043\/europe-on-high-alert-as-killer-heat-spreads#apocalyptic-for-health-workers\"><\/a>\u2018Apocalyptic\u2019 for health workers<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">French authorities announced a&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dawn.com\/news\/2009530\">ban<\/a>&nbsp;on drinking alcohol in public on Friday, when France were due to play Norway in Boston in the soccer World Cup.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">French doctors and hospital workers reported an increase in emergency calls and treatment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Wilfrid Samut, spokesperson for the Association of Emergency Room Doctors of France, said hospitals were ill-prepared for the heatwave.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThe impact on the mental health of healthcare workers is enormous,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s apocalyptic.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Web desk(National Times)- Health authorities across Europe were on high alert on Friday as a killer heatwave progressed across the continent, prompting alcohol bans in France and cracking road surfaces open in Germany. From Britain and France to Germany, Italy, Austria and Serbia, Europe sizzled under a record-breaking ball of heat rolling across the region. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":128318,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-128317","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-latest_news","entry"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Europe on high alert as killer heat spreads - Nation<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/128317\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Europe on high alert as killer heat spreads - Nation\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Web desk(National Times)- Health authorities across Europe were on high alert on Friday as a killer heatwave progressed across the continent, prompting alcohol bans in France and cracking road surfaces open in Germany. From Britain and France to Germany, Italy, Austria and Serbia, Europe sizzled under a record-breaking ball of heat rolling across the region. 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