LONDON — As thunderclouds moved into London on Tuesday night, the rain brought much-needed relief to the sweltering city dwellers after a day of record-breaking heat that sparked bushfires, disrupted train travel and strained the city’s infrastructure and health services.
The heat had dissipated on Wednesday, but it left a city concerned once again about how London and other European cities could cope with the increasing frequency of such extreme weather events.
Philipp Rode, the executive director of LSE Cities, a research center at the London School of Economics, said criticism ahead of the heatwave that warnings from meteorologists, the media, urban planners and climate scientists turned out to be “hysterical” on Tuesday.
“That idea has been completely debunked, because the effects are quite dramatic,” said Dr. red. “The fires in particular became very symbolic of not only the unpreparedness, but also not really appreciating what has been said for decades — that this would happen.”
The heat wave sparked massive wildfires in France, Spain, Italy and Greece, and parts of England reached 40 degrees Celsius – 104 Fahrenheit for the first time on record Tuesday, with Paris hitting that figure only for the third time.
It’s part of a worrying trend driven by global warming, with global temperatures averaging about 2 degrees Fahrenheit higher than they were in the late 1800s, before emissions of carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping gases became widespread. Scientists say heatwaves in Europe have increased in frequency and intensity faster than in almost any other part of the planet.
London and other European cities in northern latitudes, where heat has historically been a rare threat but cold a common threat, must adapt to remain livable, said Dr. red.
“We’ve prepared a very advanced infrastructure system, the railways, the energy systems, all the way down to how we design school buildings and hospitals – for a very specific climate,” he said, with plans across Britain around a temperature range of about minus 10 to 35 degrees Celsius. “And yesterday we exceeded that, and that results in these collapses.”
London Ambulance Service said in a statement that there was continued demand for its service, putting the organization under “extreme pressure” as a direct result of the heat wave. Early data showed there was a 10-fold increase in emergency calls to treat incidents involving heat exposure on Tuesday compared to the week before.
Sadiq Khan, the mayor of London, said Tuesday morning was the busiest day for the city’s fire service since World War II. Fire destroyed some 41 properties, many of them near lawns that had turned to kindling in the brutal heat, allowing fires to spread quickly.
“It shows the impact of climate change with temperatures exceeding 40 degrees,” Mr Khan said in an interview with BBC News.
Firefighters and their union said years of underfunding had left them hopelessly unprepared, with some crews on duty as long as 14 hours with no breaks, food or water, and no backup available. The London fire brigade said more than a quarter of fire engines were out of service on Tuesday due to staff shortages.
At times, every engine was up and running — not a single one left to respond to a new emergency, a union official said.
Extreme weather due to climate change has also hit European cities with severe flooding. A year ago, violent summer storms wreaked havoc from Britain to Croatia. West Germany was hardest hit, with nearly 200 dead, and London saw rain in one day for a month, bringing much of the city to a standstill.
dr. Rode noted that there is little political will to address the issue of extreme heat, such as in places like Australia or California where damaging wildfires regularly occur.
“But here we don’t have that, so I think we can hope it’s a wake-up call,” he said. “People should appreciate that you can of course prepare better, but this is just a taste of what’s to come.”
Homes in Northern Europe are largely built to retain heat, not dissipate it, and many homes are poorly ventilated. In a densely populated city like London, poor air quality, abundant pavement and a relative lack of greenery reinforce each other’s effects, says Léan Doody, who leads the integrated urban and planning network for Europe for Arup, a British engineering firm.
Yet major cities remain largely unprepared for this new reality of extremes, leaving city officials struggling to respond.
“I think things need to happen a lot faster,” said Mrs. Doody. “It should be common knowledge that there are these risks, but I think it’s like everything else — day-to-day business takes over.”
A spokesman for the London Mayor’s office said in a statement that he has been “clear that urgent action is needed to combat climate change and that he is already taking some of the most radical measures taken by any global city to combat climate change.” London to adapt to our changing climate.”
But the statement added that the UK national government is “unprepared for this heat event and the fact that we are already facing the effects of climate change”, and it said action was needed now to “reduce the risk of overheating in London.” .”
The mayor’s office said it was working with local authorities across the city to ensure the most vulnerable residents had access to a place to cool off during the heat wave. The ‘London Plan’, a blueprint for the city’s longer-term development, encourages builders to design for extreme weather conditions.
Cities, where natural landscapes have been replaced by densely packed buildings, concrete and asphalt, are getting hotter and retaining heat longer than surrounding areas – the ‘urban heat island’ effect, a major concern as the climate warms.
England’s broader heatwave plan, published by the government this month, includes advice to individuals on how to stay safe and guidelines for protecting infrastructure.
But critics say it doesn’t go far enough to address the issue with the urgency it needs. And if greenhouse gas emissions aren’t drastically cut, no amount of changing cities will be enough, said Dr. red.
“Adaptation has physical limits at some point,” he said. “There are certain conditions, which you simply, with all the intelligence and all the investment that we have and the technology, where it’s beyond our adaptability.”
This week’s heat made it clear that even the adjustment has only just begun. Nursing homes, many in older, poorly ventilated buildings, struggled to keep residents hydrated and cool. Parents grappled with whether it was safer to keep their children in overheated apartments or send them to overheated schools.
The London Underground network can be stifling on an ordinary summer’s day – most trains are not air-conditioned and older tunnels have few ventilation shafts. During a heat wave, the system can become unbearably hot.
Train tracks can expand, warp and buckle in extreme heat, a hazard that forced the cancellation of some train services this week and prompted others to run at reduced speeds. On the heels of that disruption, Britain’s rail network launched a task force on how to cope with future heat waves – tackling a long-awaited crisis after it has arrived.
Simon Fox, an academic who was stranded in London for two days after his train to Leeds was canceled, said he felt the “tired dismissal of a population all too accustomed to dilapidated infrastructure”.
Mr Fox again waited for a train at Kings Cross station on Wednesday, along with a crowd of others trying to find a way to continue their journey amid severe delays.
“One warm gust of wind was enough to make him tumble,” he said.
Isabella Kwai and Euan Ward reporting contributed.