Amid a relentless heatwave gripping central and southern Europe, Austria has recorded its highest temperature to date, while Hungary saw its citizens cutting back on electricity usage.
Europe continues to bear the brunt as the world’s fastest-warming continent, experiencing unprecedented heat and severe wildfires throughout the summer. In recent weeks, France and Spain have been particularly affected, with devastating consequences.
The heatwave’s intensity has now shifted eastward. Italy has issued red heat alerts for several major cities, as temperatures soared close to 40 degrees Celsius in some regions, while in Albania, emergency crews were fighting a wildfire in the southern area of Mallakaster.
The oppressive heat led the Vatican to relocate Pope Leo’s first weekly general audience post-July break indoors, a deviation from the usual St Peter’s Square venue, offering much-needed respite to visitors sweltering in the capital.
“I suppose it’s better to hold it indoors because of the heat,” remarked Diego Amaya, a visitor from Mexico, appreciating the change.
Austria sets new record
The temperature hit a record 41.2 C in the Austrian town of Bad Deutsch-Altenburg near the border with Slovakia on Wednesday, national weather service GeoSphere Austria said. The previous record of 41C was set on Tuesday in nearby Vienna.
Across the border in Hungary, companies and households cut power consumption this week after a government appeal to ease pressure on the grid amid the severe drought. The capital Budapest is facing the peak of the heatwave over the next two days, with temperatures rising close to 40C on Wednesday.
Dwindling water levels on the Danube have forced Hungary to largely shut down its sole nuclear plant, which uses the river’s waters for cooling, creating an energy crisis that has stretched power supply capacity to its limits.
Slovenia’s only nuclear power plant, Krsko, which supplies neighbouring Croatia as well, said on Wednesday it would begin reducing reactor output overnight due to exceptionally high temperatures and low flows on the Sava River, which flows into the Danube. The plant will initially cut generation to 80 per cent of capacity.
Further west, water levels on the river Rhine in Germany have hit new lows, with some cargo services stopping and other sailings continuing but with greatly reduced loads. The Rhine is a route for commodities including grains, ores and petrol.
Wildfires in Albania
In Albania’s southern Mallakaster region, wildfires forced the evacuation of about 15 families along with their livestock and pets, while ground and aerial crews fought to stop the flames reaching homes near a village.
Efforts continued to tame another wildfire, likely caused by lightning, in rocky, mountainous terrain south of the Albanian city of Gjirokaster.
In neighbouring Greece, a wildfire, possibly caused by vibrating electricity conductors and fanned by gale-force winds, has burned thousands of hectares of farmland near a popular holiday destination northwest of Athens.
The blaze appeared largely contained on Wednesday, but hundreds of firefighters remained in the area to prevent flare-ups as six helicopters doused scattered smoking spots.
In Moldova, where temperatures were likely to hit 38C on Thursday with no rain expected, President Maia Sandu urged residents to cut electricity use during evening peak hours and to conserve water.
“It is one thing to water your vegetable garden, quite another your lawn,” Sandu said on a YouTube channel podcast. “Having no water in Chisinau for several days would be a real catastrophe. I hope it won’t come to that.”
Moldovan Prime Minister Vasile Tofan told Moldovan television that neighbouring Ukraine was unable to provide power at agreed rates and Romania was also unable to supply it, even at three times the price at peak hours.
The hot, dry summer is having a worrying impact on agriculture.
The United Kingdom’s cereal harvest is on track to be the worst since comparable records began in 1984, according to an analysis published on Wednesday, as crops wither after one of the driest and hottest spring-summer periods on record.