Western Europe is enduring a ferocious heatwave forecast to break temperature records, with half of France on red alert, rail services in Belgium disrupted and sports events in Spain and Germany cancelled or postponed.
France on red alert
French authorities on Monday placed 49 of the country's 96 mainland departments on a level 1 danger-to-life warning, urging 35 million people to exercise "absolute vigilance", drink water often, avoid all strenuous exertion and stay out of direct sun. Another 40 departments were on a level 2 orange alert.
"Very high temperatures are setting in for the long term across the country," said the national meteorological service, Météo-France. "Day and night-time temperatures will be exceptional."
Temperatures to exceed 40C
It said temperatures throughout western and central France were likely to exceed 40C from Monday afternoon, hitting 43C in Bordeaux, 41C in Limoges, 40C in Toulouse and Tours and 39C in Paris, and would continue rising until the end of the week.
More than 800 schools were closed nationwide on Monday, while another 1,800 rescheduled classes to allow pupils to leave early. One in 10 regional train services around Paris were cancelled amid fears for rolling stock and tracks.
Germany and Belgium affected
In Germany, organisers suspended the final of the Berlin Open tennis tournament and cleared everyone out of the event location because of severe thunderstorms as temperatures in the German capital topped 30C over the weekend.
Temperatures in Belgium – already past 30C on Sunday – would be "the hottest ever recorded", said David Dehenauw, the head of forecasting at the IRM weather institute. Some rush-hour trains were cancelled to limit the risk of breakdowns.
