‘Hell is coming': week-long heatwave begins across Europe

Authorities have urged children and older people to stay indoors and issued severe warnings against dehydration and heatstroke as an unprecedented week-long heatwave begins its advance across continental Europe.

Tourists in Rome drink from a public fountain
 during the unusually early summer heatwave.

Meteorologists said temperatures would reach or even exceed 40C from Spain to Switzerland as hot air was sucked up from the Sahara by the combination of a storm stalling over the Atlantic and high pressure over central Europe.High humidity meant it would feel like 47C, experts warned. “El infierno [hell] is coming,” tweeted the TV meteorologist Silvia Laplana in Spain, where the AEMET weather service forecast temperatures of 42C by Thursday in the Ebro, Tagus, Guadiana and Guadalquivir valleys and warned of an “extreme risk” of forest fires.

Read the story from The Guardian by Jon Henley - “‘Hell is coming': week-long heatwave begins across Europe.”

At least 330 million people hit by drought in India

Water is a high priority for at least 330 million
people affected by drought in India.

At least 330 million people are affected by drought in India, the government has told the Supreme Court.

Authorities say this number is likely to rise further given that some states with water shortages have not yet submitted status reports.

The drought is taking place as a heat wave extends across much of India with temperatures crossing 40C for days now.

An 11-year-old girl died of heatstroke while collecting water from a village pump in the western Maharashtra state.

Yogita Desai had spent close to four hours in 42C temperatures gathering water from the pump on Sunday, local journalist Manoj Sapte told the BBC..

Read the BBC story - “India drought: '330 million people affected'.”