London’s Luton airport cancels flights due to runway damage, Belgium suspends trains and 10,000 French people are evicted due to fires
Western Europe is bracing for “a heat apocalypse” on Tuesday, with record temperatures expected to hit 44 degrees in south-west France and hit 40 degrees for the first time in the UK. The effects of the phenomenon began to be felt on British soil this Monday, where London’s Luton airport had to cancel flights and divert a dozen planes to Stansted aerodrome after causing the rise of mercury to damage the runway.
The damage at Luton airport, located about 60 kilometers north of central London, also caused delays to more than 60 arrivals and departures operated by EasyJet, TUI, Ryanair and Wizz. Also, the British Royal Air Force was forced to use alternative airfields to its Brize Norton base after the heat melted the Oxfordshire runway, according to the Sky News channel.
The Government of the United Kingdom, which has activated the highest alert level, 4, in anticipation that this Tuesday will be the most scorching day of all time, has urged the population to stay home. Meanwhile, the national rail network urged passengers not to travel unless necessary, and some services, including a key route between northeast England and London, will be partially interrupted during the day. The metro network has also imposed temporary speed restrictions, which will make journeys take longer than usual.
Another of the worst scenarios of the heat wave was observed this Monday near Bordeaux, where the two large fires that are still active forced the evacuation of another 10,000 people, bringing the number of inhabitants who have had to leave their homes to 27,000. in southwestern France. The fire has already burned almost 15,000 hectares of vegetation in the prefecture of Aquitaine and an improvement is not expected since this Tuesday the thermometers will register maximum again. Faced with such a situation, the Gallic Government has declared a red alert.
François Gourand, meteorologist for Météo France, has defined the scenario that hits Western Europe as “an apocalypse of heat” while newspapers such as the British ‘The Sun’ headlined: “Hotter than the Sahara”.
Fires in Portugal
In Portugal, some 800 firefighters continued to work this Monday in the extinction of four active fires in the center and north of the Portuguese country, which on Thursday broke its temperature record for a month of July, with 47 degrees. Meanwhile, the Netherlands and Belgium decreed the orange warning due to the intense heat, which led the Belgian National Railway Company SNCB to report the cancellation of about thirty trains during the days of highest temperatures.
The European Commission, which attributes the phenomenon to climate change, has ensured that almost half of the EU is “at risk” of drought. According to the Community Executive, the prolonged lack of rainfall will result in a drop in cereal production in countries such as France, Romania, Spain, Portugal and Italy.
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