Europe's Heatwave Crisis: Red Alerts, Deaths, and Mass Disruption Across England, France, and Belgium

Europe is in the grip of its second severe heatwave in as many months, with the UK's Met Office issuing a rare red extreme heat warning for parts of southeastern England on Friday — the third consecutive day a red alert has been in force somewhere in the country. Across the Channel, France and Belgium have canceled public events and closed schools as a brutal "heat dome" continues to push temperatures past 40°C in multiple countries. Record-Breaking Heat in the UK The Met Office's red warning, the highest alert level the agency issues, has been in near-continuous force across England and Wales since Wednesday, shifting geographically each day as the heat moves. Friday's warning covers parts of southeastern England, following red alerts for central and western England and Wales earlier in the week. A red warning means dangerous weather is expected and immediate action is needed to protect life and property. The UK has already broken its hottest-ever June temperature record twice in 24 hours this week. Thursday saw 36.4°C recorded in Yeovilton, Somerset, breaking Wednesday's record of 36.1°C set in Gosport, Hampshire. Switzerland also set its own all-time June heat record on Thursday, hitting 38°C in Basel — beating a mark that had stood for eight decades. Met Office Chief Meteorologist Andy Page warned of continued risk even as the very peak of the heat passes. "Significant disruption to daily life is likely and the public should take every effort to adapt their daily routines to cope with these levels of heat, which up to now have been extremely rare for the UK," Page said. The UK Health Security Agency has extended its red heat-health alert across six English regions — the South West, South East, London, East of England, West Midlands, and East Midlands — until 11pm on Friday. Dr. Agostinho Sousa, the agency's head of extreme events and health protection, urged health and social care services to prepare, noting the seriousness of seeing temperatures like this in the UK during June. Travel and Schools Disrupted Across Britain The practical impact has been severe. At least 1,000 schools across England closed or partially closed this week because of the red heat warning. Rail operators including Avanti West Coast, Chiltern Railways, Greater Anglia, and West Midlands Railway cut services or warned of disruption, citing the risk of rails buckling and expanding in extreme heat. Eurostar canceled four London-to-Paris trains this week due to the expected weather. Network Rail deputy chief executive Jake Kelly said the extreme heat "put[s] significant strain on the railway," urging passengers to think carefully before traveling in the worst-affected areas. France: Deaths Mount, Events Canceled France has been hit especially hard. At least 18 people have died in connection with the heatwave, including a two-year-old and a four-year-old found unconscious in a car in Carpentras, in the country's southeast, where temperatures exceeded 39°C. Authorities are treating heat as the leading line of inquiry in the children's deaths. Three elderly residents in the Bordeaux region also died over the weekend amid temperatures that hit nearly 42°C, according to local official Sophie Brocas. Beyond the heat itself, French officials have also reported a sharp rise in drowning incidents, with 13 deaths recorded over a single weekend as people sought relief in open water — part of a broader pattern authorities have flagged, after drowning deaths during heatwaves rose 172% year-over-year in France last year. Public events have been scaled back or altered nationwide. Parisian authorities banned alcohol consumption during the popular Fête de la Musique celebration, and beach resorts including Narbonne, Deauville, and Arcachon imposed restrictions of their own. Over half of France remained under a "red heat" warning at the height of the crisis, with widespread school closures, including in Bordeaux, where temperatures reached 42°C. Belgium and the Wider Continent Belgium's meteorological institute issued heat warnings running from Tuesday through Sunday, with temperatures expected to exceed 35°C in parts of the country. The heat strained Belgium's energy grid badly enough that the country set a record electricity price of more than €1 per kilowatt-hour at sunset on June 24, as conventional power stations maxed out trying to keep pace with surging air conditioning demand. The disruption has rippled across much of the continent. Belgium, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands have all been affected, along with Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic, and Croatia. In mainland France alone, roughly 63 million people were expected to experience temperatures above 30°C this week. Spain has fared particularly badly: estimates from a public health institute there linked the heatwave to as many as 212 deaths in just four days, with mainland Spain recording its highest June daily average temperatures since at least 1950. A Climate Pattern, Not a One-Off This marks Europe's second major heatwave since late May, when a separate heat dome pushed temperatures 10-15°C above normal across the continent and caused several deaths. Forecasters and climate scientists have pointed to this repeated pattern as consistent with a broader trend: Europe is warming faster than any other continent, and increasingly frequent, increasingly intense heatwaves are a documented consequence of climate change. For now, forecasters expect conditions to begin easing into the weekend across the UK, with a shift toward more typical, westerly weather patterns expected next week. But with this being the second severe heatwave event of the year already, by late June, authorities across Western Europe are bracing for the likelihood that this summer's heat extremes are far from finished.