Europe is sweltering under a heat dome pushing temperatures in parts of the continent to 46C, as deaths rise and the risk of disaster grows.
The spike in temperatures is being driven by a mass of hot air moving north from the Sahara, fuelled by a strong high‑pressure system known as the ‘African anticyclone.’
Meteorologists say the system is creating a so‑called ‘heat dome,’ trapping hot air over western and central Europe and allowing temperatures to build day after day.
In France, 40 people have tragically drowned while seeking reprieve from the heat since June 18 according to Sebastien Lecornu, the country’s prime minister who added the deaths occurred ‘mainly among young people.’
He will hold a crisis meeting today to discuss the extreme weather bringing the country to its knees.
The government’s emergency response cell warned people not to try to cool off in unsupervised areas such as lakes and rivers after the drowning deaths at the weekend, which included a 13-year-old girl.
Similarly in Germany a spike in fatal swimming accidents saw five deaths over the weekend.
Two men aged 20 and 22 drowned in lakes in Bavaria, and a 79-year-old woman died in the Baltic Sea. Other fatal swimming accidents occurred in lakes in Brandenburg and North Rhine-Westphalia.
And in the UK thunderstorms and torrential rain sparked widespread disruption across Britain today after some 3,000 lightning strikes hit London in just two hours.
A violent band of storms swept across southern England overnight bringing flash flooding, power cuts and travel disruption before Britain braces for what could become one of the hottest days ever recorded in the UK later this week.
The storms are expected to give way to soaring temperatures as the heat dome builds across western Europe, with forecasters warning Britain could experience its hottest June day on record.