First heatwave red alert in UK history.
The temperature for the first time, Tuesday July 19, exceeded 40°C in the country.
The mercury reached 40.2°C at Heathrow airport in west London, then 40.3°C in Coningsby, a village in northeast England, according to the Met weather agency. Office.
This is 1.6°C higher than the previous British record, which dated from July 2019 with 38.7°C.
The record has also been broken in Scotland, with 34.8°C, as well as in 29 localities in England.
In July, temperatures are traditionally around 20°C in the United Kingdom.
Faced with this heat wave, the authorities encouraged citizens to cool off by any means.
"In London, the Thames has turned into a seaside resort," notes France 24 correspondent in London, Hervé Amoric.
01:37
But the United Kingdom is not ready for this kind of situation, the infrastructures are not adapted.
Transport Minister Grant Schapps admitted to the BBC that the country's Victorian-era public transport was unable to handle such heat.
"All the trains are canceled because of the heat. I don't understand. They have trains in Australia. Which work. What's the problem here?" asked Ashley Meeloo, a 62-year-old passenger in London.
Several fires in the country
In addition, at least a hundred firefighters were fighting a fire ravaging the village of Wennington in east London.
The fire spread over an area of 40 hectares, including homes, farm buildings and garages.
"I was sunbathing in my garden and a black cloud came," Ciar Meadows, a 30-year-old housewife, told AFP.
"In an hour", the fire "spread to our house", "our cars disappeared", she continued.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson sent in a tweet his "thanks to all the firefighters and services on the front line", while several fires are counted in the country, including a dozen in London.
A castigated media treatment
The situation exacerbates tensions.
Environmental activists from the group Extinction Rebellion smashed the windows of the publisher of the tabloid The Sun on Tuesday morning to protest against the treatment of the heat wave in some media.
"The Sun chose to feature images of women in bikinis, beaches and happy children with ice cream," the band said.
Another tabloid, the Daily Express, headlined Monday: "It's not the end of the world, stay cool and carry on."
Faced with these temperature records, the Secretary General of the United Nations World Meteorological Organization (WMO) Petteri Taalas expressed his hope for governments to "awareness", hoping that this type of phenomenon will have "a impact on voting behavior in democratic countries".
With AFP
The summary of the
France 24 week invites you to come back to the news that marked the week
I subscribe
Take international news everywhere with you!
Download the France 24 app
google-play-badge_FR