The weather service DWD in Germany has issued a national warning for heat and extreme heat and warns of temperatures of 40 degrees on Wednesday.
It's melting away here, says TT employee Ann Edliden, who is on a motorhome vacation in Central Europe and recently left Freiburg in southwestern Germany.
It was so humid there. In the city, there is a small cobblestone canal where people walked barefoot. There is also a shallow river where we waded out and sat on some rocks.
Is "unbearable"
In Freiburg, which is known for its Mediterranean climate, there is still good preparedness, according to Edliden. She tells about the interactive cooling map that the municipality has developed. It is divided into blue places, which show coolness near water, green zones, which show parks with shade, and yellow parts with air-conditioned buildings where the public can enter.
The mood is good. But it has been warned that it may become a heat record in five German cities today, says Edliden, who just drove over the border to Switzerland.
Heat records have also been measured in other countries in Europe this week. In major cities like Paris and Madrid, it is still sweaty.
We're just making it. At night, it's unbearable in the heat, says Miguel Sopera in the Spanish capital to the news agency AP.
From Spain, several deaths have been reported in recent days: A two-year-old who was left in a car was found dead. Two road workers are believed to have died of heatstroke. And the remains of two people who died in a wildfire in Catalonia, likely caused by the heat and strong winds, have been found.
Red warning
In France, two people have died and around 300 have been treated for heat-related illnesses, announces Ecology Minister Agnes Pannier-Runacher according to AFP.
According to Pannier-Runacher, her countrymen have just experienced the second warmest June in France since statistics began to be recorded in the early 20th century. Many French schools are now closed and the red, highest warning level remains for four regions, reports Le Monde. In the capital Paris, the Eiffel Tower continues to be closed, fountains are running at high pressure, and water bottles are being distributed in the subway.
From Italy, extreme heat is reported from 17 of the country's 27 major cities. In Bologna, a 46-year-old construction contractor died of suspected heatstroke while asphalt paving a parking lot.
Ice to Prague Zoo
In the Dutch city of Soest, the fire department took an unusual measure late on Tuesday: The fire trucks' water hoses were activated for a water fight with the residents:
"Bring your water gun and swimsuit, you'll definitely get wet," it said on social media.
And in Prague, Czech Republic, where the thermometer is expected to reach 37 degrees on Wednesday, ten cubic meters of ice have been delivered to the zoo, writes AP. This is to help the polar bear brothers Aleut and Gregor endure the heat.
