The government’s Cobra emergency committee was due to meet on Monday afternoon to consider the overall response to extreme weather, but it will not be chaired by the prime minister, Boris Johnson, who Labor accused of being “shut down”. Northumbria Police said a body found in a river near Ovingham, Northumberland, is believed to be that of a 13-year-old boy who went missing after getting into trouble in the water on Sunday. On Saturday, a 16-year-old boy died in Salford Quays, Greater Manchester, and a 50-year-old man died in a reservoir near Leeds. A high of 34.8C (95F) was recorded in Charlwood, Surrey, at midday on Monday, with forecasters predicting a high of 38C that could threaten the record of 38.7C set in Cambridge in 2019. Operators slowed trains across the rail network over fears of rail buckling, schools were closed in counties including Nottinghamshire and Hampshire, and extra call handlers were brought in to deal with an expected increase in 999 ambulance calls and inquiries on the NHS 111 line. Keith Malthouse, the Cabinet minister who will chair the Cobra meeting, said Labour’s accusation was unfair, while Downing Street said Johnson, who spent the morning at the Farnborough air show, had been kept “fully briefed”. . By midday on Monday, temperatures were above 30C across most of England, with Baltasound in the Shetland Islands the coolest place in the UK at 13C. The first level 4 ’emergency’ heat alert issued by the UK Health Safety Authority (UKHSA) is in place alongside a red Met Office extreme heat warning for much of England. Drivers appeared to be heeding calls to avoid unnecessary journeys, with congestion levels down by 43% in Birmingham and similarly lower in London and Manchester, according to figures from location technology provider TomTom. Penelope Endersby, chief executive of the Met Office, said: “We may well see the UK’s hottest day on record.” However, he said Tuesday was expected to be hotter, with 43C appearing as a possibility in the modelling. Endersby said the heat wave would not have happened without climate change and warned: “By 2100, we expect [such temperatures] … anywhere between one in 15 and one in three years, depending on the emission pathways we follow between now and then.” After Deputy Prime Minister Dominic Raab said people should be hardy enough to “enjoy the sunshine”, Endersby addressed those who “think maybe we shouldn’t be telling them to worry about the heat like we’re telling them to they worry about storms. or wind’. He said: “The heat is undoubtedly causing many hundreds, thousands of excess heat deaths, so people need to be careful and follow the advice we give about staying in the shade, staying cool, staying hydrated.” Professor Hannah Cloke, a climatologist at the University of Reading, said: “We know heat waves are killers. “We still have people shrugging their shoulders saying that’s it [just] summer… Last year’s heat wave in the UK killed at least 10 times more people than Grenfell [Tower] Fire [that killed 72].” Matthew Taylor, the chief executive of the NHS Confederation, said the health service “had a falling fortune, so many are not the kind of buildings that have the adaptability to these kinds of challenges”. Mike Tipton, a professor of physiology at the University of Portsmouth, advised the public to avoid beaches and warned that A&E departments were at risk of being overwhelmed by people with sunburn. “It’s not a good idea to go and sit exposed to these conditions,” he said. It also advises healthy people to avoid exercise and others to prevent overheating. Nursing homes, which house many of the people most vulnerable to heat-related cardiovascular problems, have been urged by the UKHSA to regularly check indoor temperatures, provide access to ‘cold rooms’, closely monitor vulnerable people , shade windows and turn off unnecessary lights and equipment. Nadra Ahmed, the president of the National Care Association, urged family and friends to check on people who rely on home care in the middle of the day, when they may not be scheduled for a visit from a professional care worker. He said dementia care homes face a particular challenge as residents may not understand the need to drink more regularly, remove clothes or put their feet in cold water to cool down. Disputes may also increase, putting a strain on care home staff to monitor residents at a time when there were more than 100,000 vacancies in the sector, Ahmed said. “Only a very small percentage of nursing homes will be able to put in air conditioning,” he said. “Stock that is five years old or older will not have it. I am particularly concerned about houses that are converted buildings and especially the [people in] on the upper floors.” England’s deputy chief medical officer Thomas Waite urged people to help anyone with symptoms of heat exhaustion, which he said included excessive sweating, cramps, nausea and vomiting and dizziness. “That’s actually pretty easy to deal with,” he said. “Get them in the cool, get them in the shade, give them some fluid to hydrate, it could be water, it could be sports drinks or rehydration fluids, and most people will make a good recovery in about 30 minutes or so.” Elsewhere in Europe, firefighters in Portugal, Spain, France, Greece and Morocco were battling wildfires that have destroyed tens of thousands of hectares of land and were expected to continue this week with high temperatures. Temperatures have soared to 47C in Portugal and 45C in Spain, while they are expected to rise above 40C in western France.
