France Bans Outdoor Drinking as Heat Wave Scorches Europe

A dangerous heat wave is sweeping across Europe, pushing temperatures above 104 degrees Fahrenheit in some areas. France, Spain, Italy, Germany, and the United Kingdom are all feeling the extreme heat. Governments are taking emergency steps to keep people safe, including banning outdoor drinking, closing schools, and canceling sports events.

France has placed about one-third of the country under a 'red alert' for heat. On Sunday, temperatures were expected to hit 104 degrees Fahrenheit in some places, with Monday forecast to be even hotter. The French government banned people from drinking alcohol in public in red alert zones. Officials said the ban was needed to protect emergency workers and let medics focus on helping the most vulnerable people.

Sunday also happened to be France's annual Music Day, a nationwide celebration of summer. Thousands of concerts normally take place in village squares, clubs, and outdoor venues across the country. Organizers were ordered to limit alcohol at these events to reduce the strain on emergency services. The celebration usually draws large crowds, including many visitors from the United Kingdom and other countries.

France took many other steps to deal with the crisis. The government put emergency services and military forces on wildfire alert and ordered 845 schools to close on Monday. It also tightened checks on water supplies to nuclear power plants. Some train services were canceled, and thousands of extra rail workers were sent out to handle problems caused by heat damaging tracks and electrical cables.

French Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu held an emergency government meeting about the heat crisis on Sunday. He asked government ministers to make plans for helping France handle heat waves better in the future. Those plans could include installing more air conditioning in public places. This is important because air conditioning is not very common in many parts of Europe.

The heat is especially dangerous for certain groups of people. Older people who live alone or in nursing homes are at serious risk. About 15,000 elderly people died in France during a heat wave back in 2003, which became a turning point for how the country prepares for extreme heat. Authorities are also worried about people who live and sleep outdoors on hot city streets.

The World Health Organization's Europe office warned this month that heat is a deadly threat across the continent. More than 200,000 people in Europe died from heat-related causes over the past four years. Officials say most of those deaths could have been prevented with the right preparations. High heat can cause heat exhaustion and a life-threatening condition called heat stroke.

Scientists say human-caused climate change is making extreme heat events more frequent and more intense. The United Nations climate agency predicts that the next five years will break more heat records around the world. A recent study found that climate change was responsible for about 1,500 deaths during an unusually early European heat wave just last month. These findings make it clear that heat waves are a growing danger.

Other European countries are also struggling with the heat. In Spain, large parts of the country are under alert, with temperatures hovering around 104 degrees even in the usually cooler northern Basque Country region. Authorities there canceled outdoor sports and cultural activities, and the heat wave was expected to last at least through Wednesday. Italy expanded heat warnings to eight cities on Sunday, where temperatures ranged from the high 90s to the low 100s.

In the United Kingdom, the weather office issued an 'extreme heat' warning for much of southern England and parts of Wales for Monday and Tuesday. Temperatures could reach 95 degrees, just one degree below the all-time record for the hottest June day, set in 1976. Germany saw temperatures climb into the mid-90s, and a 23-year-old man drowned in a lake near Rheinstetten. Three others went missing swimming in the Rhine River, and French media reported that four children also drowned on Saturday.