Europe on high alert as killer heat spreads, prompting alcohol ban and Pride parade delay in France

wellness authorities crosswise Europe were on heights qui vive on fri as a killer heat wave progressed across the continent, prompting alcohol bans and festival cancellations in France and cracking road surfaces open in Germany.

From Britain and France to Germany, Italy, Austria and Serbia, Europe sizzled under a record-breaking ball of heat rolling across the region. Scientists said the heat wave was the worst recorded for Europe, where the climate is changing faster than anywhere else.

Temperatures were probably past their peak in France and Britain, where records for June have been broken. But in Italy, the heat was expected to intensify into the weekend, bringing the summer's first readings of 40 C.

At least 55 deaths linked to the heat wave have been reported in France, where temperatures in Paris hit 40.9 C on Wednesday. Even though temperatures were expected to ease, authorities braced for more casualties.

Across the continent, cultural landmarks have been forced to close, and farming has suffered. Paris police asked organizers of major events, including the Solidays music festival, to cancel them.

Organizers of the Paris Pride March have moved Saturday's event to September. The annual event usually draws tens of thousands of people to the city's streets.

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Extreme heat caused the surface of the A2 motorway in eastern Germany to buckle and rupture over several lanes on Thursday evening, according to the BZ newspaper, damaging up to 30 vehicles, leaving two people with minor injuries and forcing the highway to be closed.

Britain's Met Office extended a red heat alert into Friday for a large area of southern England, the first time such warnings have been issued for three consecutive days.

A rare "code red" alert for extreme heat was issued for almost the whole of the Netherlands, and many schools were closed as temperatures up to 40 C were expected.

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In Serbia, authorities issued an amber alert, with temperatures of around 36 C expected. Officials in Belgrade warned people to drink and stay indoors during the hottest hours.

Fans flew off the shelves in Britain and Asian air conditioning manufacturers reported a European sales boom. In France, the state-owned power utility EDF pledged to spend 80 million euros ($127 million Cdn) on cooling systems for schools, kindergartens and day-care centres.

According to the most recent data from the OECD-affiliated International Energy Agency (IEA), issued in July 2025, household ownership of air conditioning in Europe remains relatively low, at around 20 per cent.

The heat wave, which has pushed temperatures as much as 18 C above their seasonal average, according to the Reuters Climate Monitor, is being driven by ​a weather pattern known as an Omega block.

This traps a bulging ball of hot air over regions for extended periods, with cooler weather on its fringes.

Scientists said the record-breaking heat wave would have been "virtually impossible" without human-caused climate change, which has made this week's stiflingly hot nighttime temperatures 100 times more likely than they would have been even two decades ago.

"Over the region studied, this heat wave is the most severe ever recorded," the World Weather Attribution group of climate scientists said in their latest analysis.

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French authorities announced a ban on drinking alcohol in public on Friday, when France was due to play Norway in Boston in the soccer World Cup.

French doctors and hospital workers reported an increase in emergency calls and treatment.

Wilfrid Samut, spokesperson for the Association of Emergency Room Doctors of France, said hospitals were ill prepared for the heat wave.

"The impact on the mental health of health-care workers is enormous," he said. "It's apocalyptic."

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