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Agence France-Presse

Belgium and the Netherlands recorded their highest ever temperatures as a European heatwave soared towards its peak on Wednesday, impacting rail transport and prompting a spike in drownings with people taking to the water.
Cyclists in the Tour de France in southern France had to puff their way over the course in well over 30 degrees Celsius while in the Netherlands, farmers have been leaving their cows outside to sleep, rather than bringing them in at night.
Belgium registered an all-time high of 38.9 degrees Celsius (102 degrees Fahrenheit) at the Kleine-Brogel military base, beating a record that dated back to June 1947.
In the Netherlands, 38.8 at Gilze-Rijen, in the south, smashed a record dating back 75 years.

The second heatwave in less than a month has focused new attention on climate change and a host of French cities broke records on Tuesday. Wine capital Bordeaux hit 41.2.
Paris is facing its hottest day on Thursday with the French capital’s 70-year-plus record of 40.4 forecast to fall. Cooler weather with rain was expected to provide relief from Friday.
“It’s too much for us,” said Sven Schenk, 29, a logistics worker from Germany who was visiting Paris. “We’re not looking forward to tomorrow! But we haven’t changed our plans.”
How climate change is affecting the world’s favourite wines
Britain’s Met Office predicted a chance that the UK temperature record of 38.5, which was recorded in Faversham, Kent, in August 2004, will also be exceeded on Thursday at the peak of the heat.
Britain’s Network Rail said it was slowing down trains in response to the extreme weather.
French trains were also slowed down and the national rail operator SNCF advised travellers in the worst affected areas to delay journeys planned at the peak of the heatwave Thursday.
Thalys and Eurostar train services between Brussels, Paris and London were disrupted by a failure on an overhead power line, although it was not immediately clear if this was due to the heatwave.

A Eurostar train bound for London tore down part of the cable support just outside Brussels. The 600 passengers were eventually taken back to Brussels, the Belga news agency said.
Across the area affected by the unusually high heat, people tried to cool off in lakes and rivers.
We need to take care of ourselves but above all others, especially those who are alone, and be able to detect the first symptoms of heatstroke
Edouard Philippe, France’s prime minister
In London, police were searching for three people who went missing in the River Thames while swimming while three people have drowned in Germany since Tuesday.
Dutch media said hundreds of pigs died when a ventilator failed at Middelharnis.
France’s weather office said the scorching conditions “require particular care, notably for vulnerable or exposed people” with almost the entire country under an orange-level weather alert, the second highest level.
Paris in particular remains haunted by the early summer of 2003 when 15,000 deaths were blamed on the heat and the authorities were bitterly criticised for not mobilising fast enough.
Young Asia Pacific climate activists on fighting for change
“We need to take care of ourselves but above all others, especially those who are alone, and be able to detect the first symptoms of heatstroke,” said Prime Minister Edouard Philippe.
Local authorities have placed restrictions on water usage in many areas due to drought-like conditions that have seen ground and river water levels fall dramatically.

Water restrictions are in place in 73 out of the 96 mainland departments, with the worst affected areas in the Loire region of central France, as well as the south west and the south east.
This summer’s second heatwave has amplified concerns in Europe that human activity is heating the planet at a dangerous rate.
The June 26-28 blast of heat in France was four degrees Celsius hotter than an equally rare June heatwave would have been in 1900, the World Weather Attribution (WWA) team said this month.
One study by the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology said the deadly, weeks-long heatwave across northern Europe in 2018 would have been statistically impossible without climate change.
Swedish teenage climate activist Greta Thunberg, who has highlighted the problem of global warming through school strikes, warned MPs at France’s parliament of dire consequences if “business as usual” continues until 2030.


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Extreme weather

Rail disruption across Europe and number of drownings as record-breaking heatwave continues to bite

People cool off in the fountains at Toldbod Plads in Aalborg, Denmark. Photo: AFP

People visit the Vejers Strand, Beach in South Western Jutland, Denmark, on July 24, 2019. - Weather forecasters predict new temperature highs across western Europe hit by another heatwave setting new temperature records. (Photo by John Randeris HANSEN / Ritzau Scanpix / AFP) / Denmark OUT

People cool off in a fountain in Milan, Italy, Wednesday, July 24, 2019. Europeans are jumping into public fountains and the sea to keep cool as parts of Europe could see a record-breaking heat wave. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

Children run through water as they enjoy the Water Mirror (Mirroir d'Eau) during a heatwave, in Nantes on July 24, 2019. - A new heatwave blasted into northern Europe that could set records in several countries, including France. (Photo by LOIC VENANCE / AFP)

‘This is serious, serious stuff’: officials warn of extreme heat in US as weekend temperatures soar

People cool off in a fountain on the Rose Kennedy Greenway in Boston on Friday. Photo: Reuters

Track security officer Patty Patterson carries a bag of ice on her shoulders as she walks back to her post during a NASCAR Cup Series auto race practice at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon, N.H., Saturday, July 20, 2019. Temperatures were forecasted to reach nearly 100 degrees at the track. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

PHILADELPHIA, PA - July 20: A man sleeps in the shade on July 20, 2019 in Philadelphia, PA. With heat indexes reaching 105 to 115 degrees today and tomorrow, an excessive heating warning has been designated for this weekend in multiple regions of the U.S. Mark Makela/Getty Images/AFP == FOR NEWSPAPERS, INTERNET, TELCOS & TELEVISION USE ONLY ==

Street performers take a break to drink water in Times Square as temperatures head past 30 degrees Celsius on Saturday. Photo: AP

Vicious heatwave ravages Europe, killing several people across the continent

People cool off at the beach amid a heatwave in Valencia. Photo: AFP

People cool off in the sea in Marseille as a heatwave hits much of the country, France, June 28, 2019. REUTERS/Jean-Paul Pelissier

People bathe in the Trocadero Fountain near the Eiffel Tower in Paris during a heatwave on June 28, 2019. - The temperature in France on June 28 surpassed 45 degrees Celsius (113 degrees Fahrenheit) for the first time as Europe wilted in a major heatwave, state weather forecaster Meteo-France said. (Photo by Zakaria ABDELKAFI / AFP)

TOPSHOT - A boy lies on the pavement as he cools off under water jets at a fountain in Montpellier on June 27, 2019, southern France, during a heat wave. - Europeans braced on June 27, 2019 for the expected peak of a sweltering heatwave that has sent temperatures soaring above 40 degrees Celsius, with schools in France closing and wildfires in Spain spinning out of control. (Photo by Pascal GUYOT / AFP)

Two firefighters look at burned terrain in La Palma d'Ebre, Spain, Friday June 28, 2019. A major wildfire in northeastern Spain that began in a pile of chicken dung raged out of control for a third straight day Friday with more than 600 firefighters and six water-dropping aircraft battling the blaze in the Catalonia region. Spain is forecast to endure the peak of a recent heat wave, with temperatures expected to exceed 40 degrees Celsius (104 Fahrenheit). (AP Photo/Jordi Borras)

A fireman works on the extinguishing of a forest fire in Ziltendorf near Frankfurt an der Oder, northeastern Germany, close to the border with Poland, on June 26, 2019. (Photo by Julian Stähle / dpa / AFP) / Germany OUT

News

World

Europe

Cyclists in the Tour de France in southern France had to tackle temperatures of well over 30 degrees Celsius


Cyclists in the Tour de France in southern France had to tackle temperatures of well over 30 degrees Celsius.


Rail disruption across Europe and number of drownings as record-breaking heatwave continues to bite

.css-1mniedq{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;}Cyclists in the Tour de France in southern France had to tackle temperatures of well over 30 degrees Celsius

Cyclists in the Tour de France in southern France had to tackle temperatures of well over 30 degrees Celsius