Europe has been gripped by a widening heatwave in recent days, with record or near‑record temperatures scorching parts of the continent.
Health and weather authorities have expanded alerts as emergency rooms, transport networks and firefighting services come under mounting strain.
Germany recorded a temperature of 41.5 degrees Celsius in the eastern community of Moeckern-Drewitz, setting a new national record, according to the German Press Agency.
It was the second consecutive day that the high temperature in Germany had broken its all-time record. On Friday, the western city of Saarbruecken registered 41.3 degrees Celsius, surpassing the previous record. The heat has led to an increase in emergency room visits, most of which involved seniors suffering from heat stroke.
Neighboring Czech Republic also recorded its highest-ever temperature on Saturday. The Czech Hydrometeorological Institute (CHMI) said that a weather station in Doksany, north of Prague, measured 40.8 degrees Celsius, beating the previous record.
The institute has issued heat warnings nationwide, with red alerts, the highest level, declared in Prague and multiple other areas. Meteorological authorities forecast that temperatures will continue to rise further on Sunday.
Meanwhile, Italy is also enduring scorching heat, with the government issuing red alert warnings for 18 cities, including Rome, Venice, Florence and Milan, as a blistering heatwave continues to grip the country.
At tourist sites in the capital Rome, visitors were seen pulling out folding fans, battery-operated handheld fans, and scrambling for shade in a bid to escape the blazing sun.
At the same time, Hungary is preparing for what the health authorities described as the country's most severe heatwave in two decades, with emergency measures.
Temperatures in the capital Budapest climbed to 37 degrees Celsius on Saturday, with the mercury expected to top 40 degrees Celsius in the coming days, according to meteorological authorities.
The National Meteorological Service has issued heat warnings nationwide, with the highest-level alerts declared in multiple central regions of the country.
For Poland, the country's Institute of Meteorology and Water Management has issued its highest, third-level heat warnings from Saturday morning to Monday evening.
The peak of the extreme heat event is expected on Sunday, when temperatures in some regions could reach up to 42 degrees Celsius, the weather service said.
Meteorologists said that this heat wave is unlike anything Poland has experienced in over 100 years, with all-time temperature records to be broken in some regions.
Swiss energy company Axpo announced on Friday that the Beznau nuclear power plant in northern Switzerland has been temporarily taken off grid due to excessively high river temperatures that rendered its cooling systems inoperable.
The plant, which is the oldest operational nuclear power station in Europe, was shut down after the temperature of the Aare River reached 25 degrees Celsius for the second consecutive day, making it unsuitable for cooling purposes, Axpo said on its website.
The company confirmed that both reactors at the Beznau facility have been "temporarily closed" as a result of the heatwave conditions.
Heatwave strains services across Europe as temperatures smash records
