Europe braces for another heatwave after record-breaking temperatures

Many parts of Europe are bracing for another heatwave after record-breaking temperatures in June and July sparked wildfires, dried out rivers and contributed to thousands of deaths.

Parts of Britain and France on Monday were already under extreme heat warnings with forecasts of temperatures around the mid-30 degrees Celsius (mid-90 degrees Fahrenheit).

“We know the hot and dry weather is taking a real toll on farming and there will be long-lasting impacts on our environment,” said the British Environment Agency’s Director of Sustainable Business and Development Tony Grayling.

The British government has imposed irrigation restrictions on farmers and introduced a hosepipe ban in some regions, with more than 27 million people living under water-use restrictions as Britain prepares for its fifth consecutive heatwave this year.

Meanwhile in France, water-use restrictions have been applied on 70 percent of the country as drought conditions worsen amid successive heatwaves, the government said Monday.

Restrictions apply to activities such as watering gardens and green spaces, filling swimming pools, washing cars and irrigating crops.

Spain’s national weather agency AEMET said on Monday Spain recorded the joint-hottest July since records began in 1961, after scorching temperatures fuelled the country’s biggest wildfire in recent history.

Last month was also mainland Spain’s driest July on record as 4.3 millimetres of rain fell, which represented just 26 percent of the normal precipitation for the time of year.

The parched conditions are fuelling wildfires in Greece and Spain, including in Andalusia where firefighters are struggling to put out blazes.

Andalusia’s emergencies chief, Antonio Sanz, told reporters that extinguishing fires around the medieval town of Niebla was akin to a “long-distance obstacle race” and was expected to last several days.

Sanz said nearly 500 people have been evacuated from the area.

Meanwhile, the BDB association, an inland shipping group, warned that vessels will soon not be able to navigate parts of the Rhine river in Germany as water levels drop further due to soaring summer temperatures and low rainfall.

“With water levels this low, commercial shipping will no longer be able to transport goods in the region,” the group’s managing director Jens Schwanen told the Rheinische Post newspaper.

“In principle, this means the Rhine is no longer continuously navigable and thus divided in two.”

Europe is the fastest-warming continent on the planet due to climate change.Soaring temperatures are also forecast in Switzerland, Austria and Hungary.