“Due to the extremely hot weather expected next week, customers should only use London’s transport network for essential journeys,” Transport for London (TfL) CEO Andy Lord said.
Temporary speed restrictions will be introduced on London’s Tube and rail services “to keep everyone safe”, Lord added, urging travelers to “carry water at all times”.
Excessively high temperatures can damage power lines and signaling equipment. TfL said it would try to keep services running smoothly and use increased inspections to mitigate the effects of the extreme heat.
Regular track temperature checks will be carried out to prevent the tracks bending or buckling, TfL said in a statement. The network will also control air conditioning units across the Tube network and air cooling systems on the capital’s double-decker buses.
Drivers are also encouraged not to drive during the hottest times of the day.
“Lives are at risk”
The UK Met Office said lives were at risk as temperatures could reach 40C early next week. It issued the first red warning for extreme heat in parts of the country, including London and Manchester, describing the alert as a “very serious situation”. “If people have vulnerable relatives or neighbors, now is the time to make sure they are taking the appropriate measures to be able to cope with the heat because if the forecast is as we think it will be in the red warning area, then people’s lives are at risk.” , Met Office spokesman Grahame Madge said. The UK’s Health Safety Agency has also raised its heat health warning from level three to level four – the equivalent of a “national emergency”.
Fires ravage Spain, France and Portugal
Elsewhere in Europe, fires ravaged parts of Spain, France and Portugal on Friday under intense heat, burning forests and prompting widespread evacuations. More than 400 people were evacuated from Mijas, a picturesque village in Malaga, southern Spain, as a new fire broke out, Reuters reported. About 20 kilometers (12.4 miles) away, beachgoers in Torremolinos spotted smoke billowing near seaside hotels. Catalan authorities have suspended sports and camping activities in around 275 towns and villages to prevent fire risks. The flames have also engulfed parts of Extremadura in western Spain, as well as the central region of Castile and León. The fires are threatening historic landmarks such as a 16th-century monastery and a national park, while more than 18,500 hectares of forest have been destroyed. Water-bombing aircraft and more than 1,000 firefighters have been deployed in southwestern France to contain two blazes exacerbated by high winds and tinderbox conditions, Reuters reported. Elsewhere, 11,300 people have been evacuated from fires near Dune du Pilat and Landiras, where about 18,000 hectares of land have burned. Temperatures were expected to top 40C in Portugal, where five regions were on red alert for extreme heat and more than 1,000 firefighters battled 17 forest fires, authorities said. There has been a spike in heat wave-related deaths in western Europe. Portugal recorded 238 excess deaths from July 7 to 13, according to the country’s health authority DGS. Spain recorded 237 excess deaths from July 10 to July 14, according to estimates from the country’s health ministry. The death toll may rise further as figures for July 15 are yet to be released. In June, 829 estimated excess deaths were recorded in Spain due to the heat, the health ministry said.
The climate crisis is driving extreme weather events
The scenes of firefighters battling blazes and roads melting in extreme heat may seem dystopian, but British meteorologists say these phenomena are a result of the ongoing climate crisis. In summer 2020 forecasters at the UK Met Office used climate projections to predict the weather forecast for 23 July 2050 — and the results are surprisingly similar to their forecast for Monday and Tuesday. “Today, the forecast for Tuesday is shockingly nearly identical for large parts of the country,” Simon Lee, an atmospheric scientist at Columbia University in New York, tweeted on Friday, adding in a later post that “what comes Tuesday it gives an insight into the future.” “We hoped we would not get to this situation,” Met Office climate performance scientist Nikos Christidis said in a statement. “Climate change has already affected the likelihood of extreme temperatures in the UK . The chances of seeing 40°C days in the UK could be up to 10 times more likely in the current climate than in a natural climate unaffected by human influence.” The possibility of exceeding 40 points “is increasing rapidly”, Christidis said. CNN’s Manveena Suri, Angela Fritz and Rachel Ramirez contributed reporting to this post.
