Sawt Falasteen - European countries close schools, cancel trains as heatwave set to intensify

France recorded heat-related deaths over the weekend. A leading researcher reiterated that human-driven climate change had contributed to the recent record-breaking heatwave.

In France, 49 of the country's 96 mainland departments were on a red alert weather warning, up from 35 over the weekend.

Officials announced the closure of 845 schools Monday with another 1,800 set to let students leave earlier than normal.

On Sunday, several towns had cancelled the annual music festival and the government banned alcohol consumption in public places on health and public order grounds in departments already under the weather red alert.

Some parts of France recorded temperatures past 40 degrees -- extreme for June. In the southwest Gironde region, local officials said the deaths of three people, aged between 80 and 95, were in part due to the intense heat.

French forecasters say the current heatwave could end up being as serious as the one in August 2003 that claimed the lives of nearly 15,000 in France.

- 'Intense and early' -

Both France and Belgium announced cuts to their rail services: in France, mainly commuter lines in and around Paris.

Belgium's national rail company SNCB announced that some rush hour trains had been cancelled for Monday and Tuesday to reduce the risk of breakdowns blocking the tracks.

Temperatures in Belgium are expected to be "the hottest ever recorded" there in the coming week, warned David Dehenauw, head of forecasting at the IRM meteorological institute.

France's junior minister for ecology Mathieu Lefevre said this heatwave was "particularly intense and particularly early". In May, several European countries reported record temperatures for that time of year.

Akshay Deoras, a senior researcher at the University of Reading's National Centre for Atmospheric Science, in England, said it was clear what was behind the rash of heat records.

"Human-driven climate change has provided the springboard for this event, loading the atmosphere with extra heat and making extreme temperatures far more intense than they would have been in the past," he said.

Spain's weather service Aemet on Sunday warned of "extremely high" temperatures for the season, day and night, until Wednesday. Temperatures are forecast to reach 44C in some areas.

"Temperatures will drop Thursday, but the heat will remain intense," it added.

On Sunday, officials in Madrid cancelled a public screening on a giant screen of Spain's victory over Saudi Arabia at the World Cup because of the extreme heat.

- UK records 'annihilated' -

In Britain, Liz Bentley, chief executive of the Royal Meteorological Society, predicted that existing UK heat records for June would be "annihilated" -- as had already happened in May.

"The coming week will bring an unprecedented heatwave with temperatures likely to reach 38-39 degrees celsius," she predicted. "The current June record is 35.6 degrees celsius.

"This will lead to two consecutive months, May and June, in which the UK temperature records have been annihilated by well over 2C," she added.

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