The UK is facing a wave of extreme heat. Emergency services warn of health effects caused by such hot weather, as well as power failures and obstructions to rail traffic, to name a few.
As The UK Green Party announced on its Twitter account:” With a record breaking #heatwave the reality of the climate crisis is becoming ever more apparent. The government have done nothing to protect vulnerable people from this extreme weather.”
The UK’s Met Office weather service issued these warnings for the first time in its history in the wake of record heat forecasts. As reported by the Met Office : ”For the first time ever, 40 Celsius has provisionally been exceeded in the UK. London Heathrow reported a temperature of 40.2°C at 12:50 today. Temperatures are still climbing in many places, so remember to stay #WeatherAware.”
As a result of the record heat the runway at Luton near London has been damaged. British meteorologists are warning that temperatures could reach up to 43 degrees Celsius in the coming days.
Emergency services are receiving a huge number of calls every day from people not coping with the temperature. A red alert is being maintained across central and southern England.
The British Health Service is concerned that those living alone or on upper floors are among those who may be most at risk. The second-level alert issued by the UKHSA is accompanied by a call to regularly check the condition of those at risk. This includes the elderly or those with health problems.
“We could see 1,500 to 2,000 deaths just from this one period of heat.” – Bob Ward told the Guardian, he is the policy director at the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment.
According to Network Rail : ”We’ve found a kink in the rail at Vauxhall, London due to extreme heat. The rail temperature here is over 48 degrees Celsius so we’re painting the rails white to prevent them from getting hotter. Only travel if absolutely necessary! ”. At the end of the day, we and other European countries are all dealing with the impact of climate change. And our priority is to do everything we can to keep you safe.”
Pallavi Devulapalli, Green Party Health and Social Care Spokesperson and an NHS GP in Norfolk, said: ”We know that the very high temperatures we are likely to see over the next few days could lead to an increase in life-threatening conditions such as heat stroke, heart attacks and strokes. With all ten ambulance services across England declaring a critical incident it is clear that the people who need help may not have timely access to an ambulance. It seems likely that lives will be needlessly lost as a consequence.”
Green Party Co-Leader Adrian Ramsay has also expressed its concern on this matter: ”With our roads melting and the UK Health Security Agency saying we could face power or water shortages, we are seeing the consequences of decades of inaction in the face of the climate emergency. ”
English (Canada) 
Français 