Key events
UK water operator imposes temporary hosepipe ban amid growing strain from heatwave
Farryn Stock
Over in the UK, South East Water has announced a temporary hosepipe ban in Kent amid growing strain from the ongoing heatwave (31C today, 33C tomorrow).
The water company, who have recently been under public scrutiny over multiple water outages, has asked all customers across Kent to restrict their use of hosepipes and sprinklers with immediate effect.
The restriction comes after a red alert was placed on Kent, Sussex, Surrey, Hampshire and Berkshire earlier this week, urging customers to use their water as sparingly as possible as demand increases during record temperatures.
David Hinton, SEW’s outgoing CEO, who stepped down following supply outages, said:
“To safeguard that shared supply and prevent any homes from facing a sudden loss of water, we sadly need to ask our communities to not use their hosepipes immediately. We are deeply sorry for the disruption this causes, and we are incredibly grateful to everyone helping us protect Kent’s water.”
While the temporary ban will not officially come into effect till 00.01 on Friday, the company is asking customers in Kent to respect these restrictions immediately.
France breaks hottest ever night record set earlier this week
Meanwhile, France experienced its hottest night from Wednesday to Thursday since measurements began in 1947, the national weather agency said, breaking a record set, erm, earlier in the week.
The national temperature indicator – an average of daytime and night-time temperatures across 30 stations – reached 22C, Météo-France said, citing provisional data, coming days after a record 21.6C was measured Monday to Tuesday.
Germany’s DB gives passengers option to cancel planned rail trips this weekend due to extreme weather
Over in Germany, the country’s rail operator Deutsche Bahn, or DB, offered passengers booked for this weekend an option to cancel their ticket free of charge.
The option is available to all passengers who booked their tickets before 23 June, and were due to travel between today and 30 June.
DB said it was offering this option as a “goodwill gesture” due to “the increasing heat.”
Earlier this week, Germany’s rail network ground to a halt late on Tuesday as a result of maintenance work that went wrong, leaving hundreds of thousands of passengers unable to get home as the national operator faced widespread criticism over the chaos.
‘This is what climate crisis looks like in practice, and it’s just getting started’
Harriet Richards
Assistant environment editor
Simon Stiell, the UN climate chief, warned that “Europe’s savage heatwave has the fingerprints of the climate crisis all over it” and is “the latest price to pay for fossil fuel pollution baking our planet.”
“Schools closing, the vulnerable dying, economies sweating: this is what the climate crisis looks like in practice, and it’s just getting started.”
He continued:
“Until humanity stops burning colossal amounts of coal, oil and gas, extreme heat will keep getting worse, and other climate impacts – from mega-droughts, floods, wildfires and storms – will keep hammering every economy and population harder each year.
With billions of households, businesses and all economies still feeling the heat of the latest fossil fuel cost chaos, and thousands dying in a single day in some regions as temperatures soar, stronger climate actions can’t wait.
The solutions are equally clear: a faster shift to renewables – which are now much cheaper than fossil fuels – as well as protecting forests and boosting climate resilience. Many countries need support to embrace clean energy and protect their peoples. There’s no time to lose.”
Heatwave linked to 212 deaths in Spain, estimates show
A heatwave that has gripped much of Europe and seen temperature records tumble is linkable with 212 deaths in Spain between Sunday and Wednesday, estimated from a public institute showed, AFP reported.
The MoMo monitoring system compiles daily death statistics in Spain and calculates the difference in mortality by comparing them with the levels foreseeable based on historical records.
UK records its hottest June day and France its hottest day ever as heatwave sweeps Europe
Ajit Niranjan and Ashifa Kassam
Heatwaves kill tens of thousands of people across Europe each year and the most scorching extremes have grown hotter, longer and more common as the planet has warmed. Climate breakdown is thought to have increased temperatures by 2C to 4C, according to a rapid analysis published by ClimaMeter on Monday.
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the director general of the WHO, said Europe’s heatwave was “putting lives at risk” on Wednesday. He urged world leaders to invest more in resilient health systems and act faster on the climate emergency.
“The data [is] clear: temperatures across Europe are rising at roughly twice the global average rate, increasing the likelihood and severity of extreme heat in the future,” he said. “We cannot afford further delay.”
101 million Europeans to experience temperatures above 35C today
As the heatwave is set to hit large parts of Germany today, at least 101 million people in Europe are expected to experience temperatures in excess of 35C on Thursday, according to AFP estimates.
That’s a higher number than yesterday’s 94 millions.
Maximum temperatures are expected to surpass 30C for more than 380 million people across Europe excluding Turkey, representing nearly two-thirds of the population, AFP added, according to an analysis based on forecasts from the German weather service and 2025 population projections from the Joint Research Centre.
UK universities cancel student open days due to extreme heat
Richard Adams
Education editor
The heatwave continues to disrupt the British education system with University College London, one of the UK’s largest universities, cancelling its student open days planned for Friday and Saturday, relieving thousands of prospective undergraduates and parents from travelling to central London.
UCL said in a statement:
“Please do not travel to campus for these events. We have taken this action with the safety and wellbeing of our visitors, students and staff as our primary consideration, and we are sorry for any inconvenience caused.”
Imperial College London also cancelled its open day today, and has asked students to join an “online open day” instead. King’s College London has confirmed that its open day on Saturday is going ahead.
Open days are a crucial part of UK university recruitment drives, allowing potential students to inspect campus facilities and accommodation as well as meeting faculty and learn about courses on offer.
Paris mayor reports ‘increase in mortality’ due to heatwave
Paris mayor Emmanuel Gregoire said there had been an “increase in mortality” in the capital owing to the heatwave, without giving any figures, AFP reported.
He said “pretty much all our indicators are in a critical state”, including calls to emergency medical services, calls to the fire brigade, ER admissions, and deaths, he told local TV.
Morning opening: The heatwave continues
Jakub Krupa
Ready for another day of temperatures way above 30C?
The European heatwave of 2026 begins to slowly move eastwards, but things are still going to affect millions of Europeans.
The red extreme heat warning continues in the UK; 72 out of 96 mainland French departments are covered by its French equivalent, as are 17 Italian cities – and these numbers are actually even higher than yesterday.
It’s 33C in Nantes, 31C in Paris and it’s not even 10am local time.
We will see the highs of 39C in Paris, 36C in Germany’s Cologne and Italy’s Bologna, 35C in Belgium’s Brussels, 33C in Berlin, and 31C in London.
And Bratislava, Budapest, Prague, and Warsaw look on, wondering about what is going to happen as the temperatures there are expected to hit, erm, 40C over the weekend and on Monday.
I will bring you all the latest updates on how the continent is (desperately trying) to cope in these temperatures.
You can also tell us how you are doing and what are your strategies for this heat:
It’s Thursday, 25 June 2026, it’s Jakub Krupa here, and this is Europe Live.
Good morning.
