Europe's most severe heatwave on record strains infrastructure, causes deaths; Ukraine's grid buckles

Europe is grappling with its most severe heatwave ever recorded, pushing temperatures to extreme levels across the continent. Central and eastern Europe endured scorching heat on Monday, with the Balkans bracing for temperatures up to 40C. This extreme weather follows a week of record highs in western Europe, which strained hospitals, transport, and power grids.

The heatwave has had deadly consequences, with the UN health agency reporting over 1,300 excess deaths since June 21. Several young children died in locked cars, and numerous youths drowned while seeking relief in unsupervised waters. France reported at least 74 drowning deaths since June 18, and Poland recorded 17 on Sunday alone.

Scientists from the World Weather Attribution group stated that such an intense heatwave occurring this early in the summer would have been "virtually impossible" without climate change. All-time temperature records have been broken in Germany, Poland, and the Czech Republic, with June records also falling in the UK and Switzerland.

“

I'm doing the same thing as everyone -- trying to stay in the shade and drink a lot of water. I just hope that the politicians will understand the situation and will begin to set a course in the right direction.

Ukraine's energy network, already weakened by over four years of war and Russian attacks, is facing immense pressure from the high temperatures. Authorities in the western Rivne and central Khmelnytsky regions introduced emergency power outages to alleviate the strain on the grid. Five other regions warned residents and businesses to prepare for potential blackouts as temperatures were expected to reach 35C-38C.

Sergii Kovalenko, CEO of the Yasno energy company, noted that the heat poses a serious test for equipment that has endured wartime conditions and numerous attacks. Summer is typically a peak period for repairing the energy network, which has been battered through the winter by repeated Russian assaults.

“

The heat is also a serious test for equipment that has been operating under wartime conditions for more than four years and has withstood numerous attacks.