fire, heat and evacuation
It’s hotter than here in these holiday countries
Melting airstrips, huge wildfires and evacuated camps: Blick has an overview of the problems facing the hottest vacation spots in Switzerland.
Switzerland groans on the hottest day of the year. Heat records have been recorded regionally since the measurements began. But it’s still a long way to go when you look at the weather forecast and temperatures in the most popular vacation destinations for Swiss. Because they break our records easily.
For example, in Great Britain, temperatures have exceeded 40 degrees for the first time since records began. London’s Heathrow Airport measured 40.2 °C in the afternoon. Life in large parts of the country was disrupted at the start of the week: schools remained closed, and some shops and restaurants remained closed.
Airstrips are melting in England
Rail traffic was delayed or canceled altogether because the infrastructure was not designed for such high temperatures. Flights at Luton Airport had to be canceled because the runway melted, as reported by travel portal “TravelNews”.
Blazing oven heat is rampant in Italy as well. Bolzano, Brescia, Florence and Perugia have 40 degrees. Fire tenders are constantly on duty to control the forest fire. A drought emergency was declared in five regions of Lombardy, Piedmont, Veneto, Friuli-Venezia Giulia and Emilia-Romagna. A refreshing dip in Lake Garda? forbidden! The water level is lower than before. According to officials, the risk of head injury is very high.
In France, public transport is at its limit
40 degrees? This is nothing compared to the 45 degrees rife in Spain. According to Travelnews, the country is experiencing a heat wave with a high temperature of 45.7 degrees for a week. This has disastrous consequences: wildfires across the country, even in the otherwise quiet North. Tourists had to be evacuated.
Switzerland’s favorite holiday destination France is also on fire. According to French media reports, several camps in the south had to be cleared. Temperatures in excess of 30 degrees push public transport to its limits. Overhead lines extend, rails get so hot that they bend. As a result, the government SNCF trains are currently running at the speed of only snails, so that no accidents happen.
A pastis at 34 degrees in the port of Marseille? Not even really fresh. Especially not in Paris. It is 40 degrees hot in the tourist metropolis at this time.
Nowhere in Europe is the end of the heat in sight. (PBE)
