Record European heatwave fuels wildfires and forces emergency measures on major rivers

Record temperatures and prolonged drought across Europe continue to drive widespread wildfires and operational disruptions. Following the warmest combined June and July recorded in Western Europe, during which global ocean surface temperatures reached a peak of 20.96 degrees Celsius, emergency services across France, Belgium, and the Balkans are battling expanding blazes. In southwestern France's Landes department alone, fires have scorched over 1,500 hectares, prompting the precautionary evacuation of hundreds of households.

Simultaneously, severe river depletion has complicated energy infrastructure throughout Central and Eastern Europe. In Romania, authorities deployed naval explosives along the Danube to redirect critical cooling water toward active nuclear reactors, following earlier generation curbs in Romania and Hungary. The receding water levels have also exposed historical relics and prehistoric fossils along dried riverbeds across the continent.

Sources: Diário de Notícias (DN), Expresso, Jornal Económico, RTP (Rádio e Televisão de Portugal)