France has reported around 1,000 additional deaths during last week’s record-breaking heat wave. Extreme temperatures also sparked wildfires in Germany and Berlin police used water cannons to cool down crowds.

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 now the fastest-warming continent and needs to do more to protect its citizens.

Temperature records were toppled in several countries on the weekend, 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.

Germany marked a new record for the third day in a row with 41.7 degrees Celsius (107 degrees Fahrenheit) in Neißemünde, near the border with Poland, which baked under its new all-time high of 40.5 C (104.9 F). The Czech Republic also experienced its hottest day ever with 41.9 C (107.4 F), up from the previous record of 40.9 degrees Celsius (105.6 F) on Saturday.

  • linuleEnglish
    11·
    4 hours ago

    A point missing here is electing politicians who actively hinder development of renewables, which has an impact by magnitudes larger than all these individual decisions.

    • Bogus007@lemmy.zipEnglish
      13·
      1 hour ago

      It’s interesting to see how many ideological people there are on Lemmy, especially how they react when someone points out that their own behavior isn’t necessarily any different. It doesn’t leave me very optimistic about society’s ability to improve.