France saw around 1,000 additional deaths last week at the height of its record-smashing heat wave, the country’s public health agency said Sunday, as the head of the World Health Organization warned that Europe is the fastest-warming continent on earth and countries there need to do better to protect their citizens.
Temperature records were toppled in several countries on the weekend as wildfires were sparked in Germany and Berlin police used water cannons to cool down the crowds.
Meanwhile, the heat wave slowly moved toward eastern parts of the continent.
In Germany, a new nighttime temperature record was reported Sunday in Kubschütz, in eastern Saxony, with 29.4 degrees Celsius (84.9 Fahrenheit). It came only hours after a daytime record of 41.5 C (106.7 F) in Möckern-Drewitz in Saxony-Anhalt, according to preliminary data by the German Weather Service DWD. The previous record was set a day earlier.
The Czech Republic experienced its hottest day on record for the second straight day on Sunday. In the northern town of Doksany the temperature soared to 41.1 degrees Celsius (106.4 F), the Czech Meteorological Institute said. The previous record was 40.9 C (105.6 F) in the same place on Saturday.
