spread the fire across The local prefecture said Monday night that 27,000 acres in France’s southwestern Gironde province, forcing 32,000 people to evacuate.
The nearby town of Cazaux recorded 42.4 degrees Celsius (108.3 degrees Fahrenheit) on Monday, the highest temperature it has seen since its meteorological station first opened more than 100 years ago in 1921, according to France’s national weather service Météo France.
She added that major cities in western France, such as Nantes and Brest, also set new temperature records.
In Finistere, on the country’s Atlantic coast, the fires were first reported on Monday afternoon. Less than eight hours later, the fire ravaged more than 700 acres of land, leading to the evacuation of several villages.
More than 70,000 hectares of land have been destroyed in Spain due to fires this year, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said on Monday. “Seventy thousand hectares, to give you an idea, almost double the average of the last decade,” he said.
The country’s Carlos III Health Institute on Monday estimated the total number of deaths at more than 510 heatwave-related deaths in the country, based on statistical calculations of excess deaths.
Hundreds have also died in neighboring Portugal, where rising temperatures have exacerbated a severe drought.
On Saturday, the Portuguese Ministry of Health said that 659 elderly people had died in the previous seven days.
An elderly couple died on Monday after their vehicle overturned while escaping wildfires in northern Portugal, the country’s official RTP station reported.
In total, more than 1,100 people are believed to have died from the ongoing heat wave in southern Europe.
peak intensity
As the heat wave moves across the country, the French capital, Paris, is forecast to reach 39°C (102.2°F) on Tuesday.
In the UK – with temperatures on Monday reaching 38.1 degrees in Santon Downham in eastern England, making it the third-hottest day on record – officials warned things were likely to get worse.
Tuesday is expected to be hotter, according to Penelope Endersby, chief executive of the Met Office.
“Tomorrow we really see a chance of 40 degrees higher and temperatures even higher,” Endersby told BBC radio on Monday.
“Maybe higher than that, 41 isn’t out of the cards. We have about 43 in the form but we hope it’s not as high as that.”
In France, the heat wave is expected to move away from the western part of the country on Tuesday, heading towards the center and the eastern part instead, including Paris.
Belgium’s Royal Meteorological Institute (KMI/IRM) issued a “code red” weather warning over heat in two provinces on Tuesday, forecasting temperatures of up to 40 degrees Celsius in the west and southwest.
“In very high temperatures, certain measures will be necessary: drink regularly, wear light clothing, spend the day in cooler rooms, regularly monitor your health, eat easily digestible food (and in smaller portions), keep doors and windows closed and residents warned From that “pets and animals also need extra care.”
Facing drought
The Joint Research Center highlighted that drought in much of Europe is “critical” as “the lack of precipitation in winter and spring… was exacerbated by early heat waves in May and June.”
According to the report, the water supply could be “at risk” in the coming months.
Speaking to CNN on Monday, Oxford University professor Myles Allen warned that such heat waves will be inevitable if humanity does not soon reduce carbon emissions.
“This is not a new normal because we are just on a trend towards higher temperatures than ever before,” Allen told CNN on Monday.
The solution, he said, is to bring about a complete change in the energy industry. He added that individual companies are unlikely to unilaterally change their business models due to fears of losing competitiveness with competitors.
“It has to be industry-wide regulation,” Allen said.
Joseph Attaman, Jimmy Hutchion and Xiaofei Shaw reported from Paris. It was mentioned by Zahid Mahmoud and Sana Nour Haq from London. CNN’s Renee Bertini, James Frater, and Sharon Braithwaite contributed to this post.