Zürcher Nachrichten - Heatwave sparks health warnings across Europe

Schools and tourist sites closed early and railways cancelled journeys as several countries issued red alerts for much of their territory in the record-breaking heat.

France sweated through its hottest night ever recorded, the national weather agency said, and the government said 40 people had drowned in the past five days as citizens took to unsupervised water spots to cool off.

Scientists have shown that recurring heatwaves are a clear marker of global warming, and warn they are set to become more frequent, longer and more intense, driven by humans' burning of fossil fuels.

In Barcelona, which was spared the worst of the temperature rises, 76-year-old Jose Farre nevertheless said it made it harder for him to sleep and even breathe.

"I have a heart condition, I'm diabetic and I feel it a lot," he said, after coming out in the cooler early hours to do his shopping.

- Heat health danger -

Nearly all of Spain was under a heat alert, with parts of the south and north of the country on the highest warning level for "extraordinary danger", national weather agency AEMET said.

As in various countries, authorities there urged citizens to take extra care of vulnerable people, drink water and avoid exertion at the hottest hours.

But some workers said they had no choice but to sweat in the sun.

Removal man Valentin Fernandez told AFP he was having a "rotten time" trucking furniture and boxes in Madrid, where the temperature reached 38C.

"When the sun starts to hit you, you feel like dying. And inside the truck it's twice as bad... it's horrendous," he said, sweat soaking his shirt and running off his nose.

"We have no choice -- until one day we'll get heat stroke," he added. "If you don't work, you don't eat."

Italy's health ministry declared a red heatwave alert in 15 cities including Milan and Rome.

Blackouts struck Milan and Turin because of the spike in the use of air conditioning.

- UK schools close -

A massive front of hot air from North Africa was smothering western Europe, Sebastien Leas, a forecaster at France's weather service Meteo-France, told AFP.

A cold front off Portugal was "acting like a heat pump, drawing up warm air", he said.

"At altitude, high pressure systems exert pressure on this warm air mass, and when we compress a warm air mass, we actually make it even hotter."

In England, dozens of schools said they would close early on Tuesday and remain shut for two more days.

"Most of our buildings cannot be cooled adequately and there is little shade outside," one school in southeastern Buckinghamshire said.

The UK's Met Office weather agency issued a rare red heat warning -- for only the second time -- for parts of central and south England on Wednesday and Thursday.

Temperatures could soar to 40C, unprecedented for the time of the year -- a "sobering" prospect, according to Met Office chief scientist Stephen Belcher.

The railway line connecting northeast England to London issued a "do not travel" advisory.

- 'Tragic' drownings in France -

Speaking at a crisis meeting, France's Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu warned of "a tragic scourge of drownings", saying 40 mostly young people had drowned since June 18.

In Germany in Monday police said five people had died in fatal swimming accidents over the weekend.

In southern France on Monday, two children aged two and four were found dead in a car, believed to be casualties of the heatwave, in the town of Carpentras.

The school received some fans, "but that doesn't actually lower the temperature in the rooms," said Gaelle Roubere, of the parents' association at the Marsoulan primary school.

In the coastal village of Beauvoir-sur-Mer in western France, farmer Stephane Delapre told AFP that many of his chickens had died from the heat on Monday.

"In 42 years on the job, I've never seen that happen," he said.

Austria, Poland, Hungary and Croatia each issued heat warnings for parts of their territory. Emergency services in Hungary and Slovenia reported elderly people seeking help.

Croatian firefighters said they had brought several wildfires under control.

N.Zaugg--NZN