Orangutans at a Vienna zoo on Tuesday got buckets of water, lemurs in Rome enjoyed fruit icicles and a polar bear took to a pool in Germany as much of Europe sweltered in an early summer heatwave.
Authorities warned that temperatures could top 40°C in some parts of the continent over the coming days, the effect of hot air moving northward from Africa.
French Minister of Health Agnes Buzyn said that more than half of France is on alert for high temperatures and the hot weather is expected to last until the end of the week.
Photo: AFP
“Heatwaves are going to happen again, we know it, and maybe intensify in the next years and decades because of climate change,” she told reporters following the government’s weekly Cabinet meeting.
France is still haunted by the experience of a 2003 heatwave that killed an estimated 15,000 elderly people in the country.
The government has since put in place numerous prevention measures, including having local city halls contact fragile people and possibly visit them to make sure that they are coping.
Public service announcements on TV and on mass transit urged people to drink water and watch out for isolated older neighbors.
The message was echoed by the health coordinator for the Red Cross in Europe.
“The coming days will be challenging for a lot of people, but especially older people, young children and people with underlying illnesses or limited mobility,” Davron Mukhamadiev said.
“Our message this week is simple: Look after yourself, your family and your neighbors,” he said. “A phone call or a knock on the door could save a life.”
Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo predicted that heatwaves like the one now sizzling Paris “could last one, two, three months” if global warming continues unchecked.
Mobile teams are on the streets to provide water to the homeless.
Authorities in Calais have provided 1,000 drums of water for migrants gathered there.
Authorities in Switzerland raised the heat warning to the second-highest level for areas along the southern and northern borders with Italy and Germany.
Helicopters were deployed to battle wildfires in the state of Brandenburg, where forests have gotten little rainfall.
The Czech Republic’s Hydro-meteorological Institute said the heat could damage train tracks.
At Vienna’s Schoenbrunn Zoo, keeper Fredi Maier said that staff members were trying hard to provide some heat relief to orangutan trio Vladimir, Sol and Mota.
“The best way to do this is with water,” Maier said. “Here they get water buckets, but also hoses with holes in them so the water sprays like a garden hose — and they’re loving it.”
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