Posted on 08/12/2003 12:47:28 PM PDT by mgist
PARIS - France's power company asked people to use less electricity Tuesday as some plants were forced to cut output during a Europe-wide heat wave that has fanned wildfires and killed dozens of people.
One French medical expert said at least 100 Parisians have died of heat-related illnesses — a claim that if proven would quadruple the number of deaths blamed on the heat wave.
With river temperatures hitting record highs, some plants that use water in production are cutting back, and six have stopped altogether. Plants are constrained by regulations limiting the amount of hot water they can discharge into rivers.
"We are mobilizing all possible means to develop production," Francois Roussely, chairman of power giant EDF, told RTL radio. "The biggest danger would be to lose electricity."
The heat has hovered at around 100 degrees in many countries for days. In some places, it broke records.
The Italian Meteorological Society said the city of Turin hit 107 degrees Monday — hotter than any day over the 250 years that temperatures have been recorded there.
Throughout Europe, authorities counted at least 45 heat-related deaths, the latest occurring in Spain, where five people died Monday while fleeing a forest fire.
Adding to that, Patrick Pelloux, the head of France's emergency hospital physicians' association, insisted the 100 deaths were going uncounted in the Paris region and accused the government of failing to deal with a silent health crisis.
"They dare to talk about ... natural deaths. I absolutely do not agree with that," Pelloux told TF1 television late Sunday.
The French government said it was difficult to determine if the deaths were weather-related, because it is often not clear whether patients admitted to hospitals suffer only from heat or from other ailments.
Still, funeral directors say demands for their services has risen sharply since the heat wave took hold. Les Pompes funebres generales, France's largest undertaker, said it has handled 50 percent more bodies in Paris, a company spokesman said. He noted the increase was "tied to the heat wave."
Because of high pollution caused by the heat, Paris police urged motorists not to use their cars Monday and reduced speed limits.
Not even the Nordic countries have been spared. Temperatures in Denmark 89.6 degrees over the weekend.
In Roskilde, west of the capital, Copenhagen, taxi driver Per Bjoerneboe got around his employer's ban on shorts by wearing a skirt to work.
"To me it's an insult that I'm not allowed to wear shorts," he was quoted as saying in the newspaper Dagbladet Roskilde. "Some of my customers think it's very funny and laugh their heads off."
In the northern German city of Kiel, garbage collectors began work at 5:30 a.m. instead of 7 a.m. to make removing the city's fast-rotting rubbish more tolerable.
The German arm of Italian candy maker Ferrero said it had suspended deliveries of chocolate eggs for at least a week because they would melt.
Wildfires have blackened forests in Italy, France, Greece, Spain, Portugal, Croatia and the Netherlands.
Italian firefighters put out a blaze Monday that burned for several hours in the hills above Positano and Maiori, two popular tourist towns on Italy's Amalfi Coast near Naples. Authorities suspect people are taking advantage of the searing heat and rain-parched earth to set fires to clear land for farming or development.
Italian weather experts say Europe's heat wave is one of the five worst in the last 150 years; intense monsoon activity in Africa has been blamed in part for the merciless temperatures.
However, forecasters predict relief in coming days.
Dominique Escale of Meteo France said temperatures throughout France were expected to drop by midweek — although they would remain well above average. Forecasters were predicting a high of 84.2 degrees for Thursday in the French capital.
The Italian Meteorological Society said the city of Turin hit 107 degrees Monday — hotter than any day over the 250 years that temperatures have been recorded there.Mind you, that's where the 2006 Winter Olympics are going to be held...[g]
Just damn.
If you want on the new list, FReepmail me. This IS a high-volume PING list...
The heat has hovered at around 100 degrees in many countries for days. In some places, it broke records.
I'm glad Texans are a heartier breed, otherwise there be no one left down here after the last few weeks we've had!
More stinky cheese for everyone!
Leni
Air conditioning in private residences is rare in Europe, as are fans.
If a temperature breaks an all-time record for a location, chances are good that the people there are not accustomed to that temperature, no matter how high or low that new record might be.
And al zee french wines vill blo zee corks too!
And al zee french wines vill blo zee corks too!
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