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WORLD NEWS Monday 7 august 2017
‘Lucifer’ heat wave stifles swaths of EU

instructions, telling people peratures came as a shock heat is killing me!” Animal
to keep wet towels on win- to Australian Mira Balic, rights groups urged citizens
dows if there is no air condi- who was visiting Serbia at to place plastic bowls with
tioning, and avoid physical a time when it’s winter in water outside their build-
strain and alcohol. the Southern Hemisphere. ings and in parks for the
Thousands of residents Belgrade was among the city’s many stray dogs.
sought refuge from the hottest cities in Europe on In Croatia, health authori-
heat at the city’s recre- Saturday and hotter than ties have reported a surge
ation area, swimming in the Egypt’s capital, Cairo — in emergency calls over the
local lake and the Danube which is normally far hotter past week. They appealed
or the Sava rivers. Some of than central Europe. to the thousands of tour-
those who ventured to the “I came here from Austra- ists vacationing along the
city center dipped their lia, where the tempera- country’s Adriatic coast to
A woman uses a fan to cool herself and a child wile ridding on a feet or wet their hair in the ture is 4 degrees (Celsius; be careful on the beaches
tram in Bucharest, Romania. A relentless heat wave that gripped fountains. The high tem-
parts of Europe this week has sent temperatures soaring to 39.2F,” Balic gasped. “This and while traveling.q
record highs for several days.
(AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)
By JOVANA GEC
Associated Press
BELGRADE, Serbia (AP)
— No wonder it’s been
dubbed “Lucifer.”
A relentless heat wave
that gripped parts of Eu-
rope this week has sent
temperatures soaring to
record highs for several
days, causing at least two
deaths and prompting
authorities to issue severe
weather warnings.
“It is just too much,” real
estate agent Sasa Jova-
novic, 52, said during an
early morning walk in Ser-
bia’s capital, Belgrade,
where the temperature
was forecast to hit 39 de-
grees Celsius (102.2 de-
grees Fahrenheit) Satur-
day. “Sometimes it feels as
if I cannot breathe.”
The extreme heat stifling
Serbia, Romania, Croatia
and parts of Spain, France
and Italy has fueled wild-
fires, damaged crops and
strained energy and wa-
ter supplies. Authorities in
some areas issued traffic
restrictions and banned
outdoor work during the
hottest part of the day.
Spain’s national weather
service on Saturday issued
an emergency warning for
high temperatures in 31 of
the country’s 50 provinc-
es as forecasts predicted
temperatures of up to 44
C (111.2 F). Western and
northern Europe, in con-
trast, was experiencing
colder and wetter weath-
er. Although southern Eu-
rope is used to scorching
summers, meteorologists
have warned that hot
spells lasting several days
aren’t that common.
The public health institute
in Belgrade issued heat