The impact of climate change has never been so pronounced before, perhaps. Europe is facing an unprecedented heatwave, which could - according to some experts - be only a prelude to what could get worse in the coming years. “Climate change is not new. Its consequences, however, are mounting season after season, year after year, with disastrous outcomes,” WHO regional director for Europe, Dr Hans Henri P. Kluge, said in a statement. Shocking visuals are emerging from the continent of wildfires as temperatures shoot up to new records across countries.
Here are five points on the Europe heatwave:
1. This year, according to the world health body, 1,700 deaths - linked to the heatwave - have been reported in Spain and Portugal alone. “Over the past decades, hundreds of thousands of people have died as a result of extreme heat during extended heatwaves, often with simultaneous wildfires,” Kluge said in a statement on Friday.
2. Shockingly enough, the wildfires have even been reached as far as Scandinavia. In London, over 40 homes have been damaged this week. The United Kingdom saw saw temperatures of more than 40 degrees Celsius for the first time.
3. “Extreme heat exposure often exacerbates pre-existing health conditions. Heatstroke and other serious forms of hyperthermia – an abnormally high body temperature – cause suffering and premature death. Individuals at either end of life’s spectrum – infants and children, and older people – are at particular risk,” the latest WHO statement warns.
4. In Italy, extreme red heat warnings have been issued for at least 16 cities, news agency AFP reported.
{{/usCountry}}4. In Italy, extreme red heat warnings have been issued for at least 16 cities, news agency AFP reported.
{{/usCountry}}5. Close to 40,000 hectares of forest in France are reported to have been destroyed in wildfires.