At least 15 000 people in Europe have died this year due to high temperatures.
This was reported by the European Regional Office of the World Health Organization (WHO).
The heat killed 4 000 people in Spain and more than 1 000 in Portugal. In Germany, nearly 4 500 people died from heatstroke over three months of summer, and more than 3 200 in the UK. The WHO expects these numbers to rise.
Between 1961 and 2021, temperatures in Europe increased at an average rate of about 0.5 °C per decade. According to a report by the World Meteorological Organization, this region is warming the fastest on Earth.
Over the past 50 years, extreme temperatures have caused more than 148 000 deaths in Europe.
- In mid-July, record heat was observed in Spain, Portugal, Greece and France. More than a thousand people died because of it. Some regions of these countries were affected by forest fires. Since mid-July, the center of England suffered from heat and fires. At that time, a temperature maximum of +40 °C was recorded in the region. In general, a record amount of forest — 660 000 hectares — was burned on the continent due to abnormal heat.
- In Denmark in July, the heat broke the 1941 indicator, and in France, 60 temperature records were recorded on July 19 alone.
- Swiss authorities had to involve army aviation to deliver water to alpine meadows, where animals suffer from thirst due to high temperatures.
- On August 12, a drought was declared in England.
- According to the European Drought Observatory, Europe is likely to experience its worst drought in at least half a millennium in 2022.
- According to a report by the World Meteorological Organization, the past eight years on Earth have been the warmest on record.