Wildfires, drought and storms hound Europe even as heatwave recedes

EJEA DE LOS CABALLEROS, July 17: Firefighters backed by 30 aircraft struggled on Friday to contain a wildfire in northeastern Spain that has ripped through an area the size of San Francisco, forcing the evacuation of more than 1,000 people, as recent heatwaves left vegetation tinder-dry across much of Europe.

Successive early summer heatwaves, which many scientists blame on human-driven climate change, have pushed temperatures to unprecedented levels in large swathes of the continent, causing water shortages, crop damage, wildfires, and thousands more deaths than normal.

According to the Reuters Climate Monitor, the average high across Western Europe on Friday was forecast to be 27.5 degrees Celsius (81.5 degrees Fahrenheit), which is 4.2 C above the normal high for July 17 from 1961-1990.

In France, a drought has worsened day after day since the end of May, even as the latest heatwave continued to recede, with high temperatures expected to be mostly confined to the southeast by the weekend, according to MeteoFrance.

A gas-fired power plant in southern France was at risk of going offline as high temperatures in the Mediterranean Sea limited access to cooling water, piling further pressure on an energy system already facing reduced nuclear output due to warmer river waters.

In Germany, shallow water on the key Rhine River has hindered shipping, leading to rising transport costs, though rain has helped bump up levels, with more expected in the coming days.�" REUTERS