Deadly Europe heat wave: What you need to know today

Wednesday could be the hottest day yet for London and much of the United Kingdom, as a brutal and deadly heat wave scorches its way across Europe. Thousands of schools are closed, train service has been delayed and major power outages are being reported in the punishing heat.

Red alerts are in effect in Britain, France, Spain, Germany, Switzerland and Austria today.

United Kingdom

• Highs are expected to top 95 degrees Fahrenheit Wednesday and stay hot through at least Friday.
• 95°F has already been recorded at London's Heathrow airport.
• National Rail has warned passengers not to travel unless absolutely necessary, multiple train routes across England and Wales have been disrputed.

France

• A blistering Tuesday was the hottest day on record in France, with an average temperature of 29.8 degrees Celsius (85.6°F), but don't let that average fool you. In Bordeaux it got as high as 44.6 degrees Celsius (112.3°F) Tuesday.
• 147 weather stations across France had all-time record highs Tuesday, and it's possible France could have their all-time hottest day again today.
• So far today, 104°F has been reported at Charles de Gaulle Airport, 106°F at Le Bourget Airport.

(MORE: How long will this heat wave last?)

Spain

• Cantabria hit an all-time record high Tuesday: 43.7 degrees Celsius (110.66° F) in Tama.
• On Monday, it was as hot as 45.1 degrees Celsius (113.18°F) in Andujar.
• Overnight temps Monday night into Tuesday did not drop below 30 degrees Celsiu (86°F), a first for June in mainland Spain.

Elsewhere:

• Frankfurt & Prague: at least 95 degrees Fahrenheit or hotter for the next five days.
• Warsaw: mid-90s or hotter Saturday through Monday.

Scorching temps to see the Pope

The faithful braved the scorching sun in Rome to see Pope Leo XIV during his weekly audience in St. Peter's Square on Wednesday. A priest from Brazil told the Associated Press, "It is hot but the suffering is worth it."

“We did not feel any heat at all, only great love to see the pope again," said Monica Ruiz, who traveled from Spain.

Italy's health ministry issued its maximum red alerts for 16 cities Wednesday.

Deadly effects in France

More than 40 drownings have been reported in France since last Thursday when the temperatures started to climb. French Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu said many of the victims were young people. On Monday, two children ages 2 and 4 died after locking themselves in their family’s car in southern France, according to a public prosecutor in the town of Carpentras. 

In a country without widespread air conditioning, schools, public transportation and sporting events have been affected. In Paris, the Eiffel Tower closed in the afternoon instead of late at night, as it usually does. The Louvre museum said it would close two hours earlier than normal from Wednesday through Saturday.

“Although parts of its historic building are naturally resilient, the museum remains vulnerable and is not sufficiently adapted to climate change,” Louvre officials said. “Heat buildup is greatest toward the end of the day and is further intensified by high visitor numbers.”

About 6,000 schools across France are either closed or have adjusted their schedules today, according to the country's education minister Édouard Geffray.

Power outages

About 68,000 homes and businesses remained without power Wednesday in southwest France after high temperatures knocked out a transformer on Tuesday night. As many as 119,000 households lost power at the peak of the outage, according to the French public utility company, RTE Quest.

Britain's power grid operator NESO issued a rare warning that the power supply could be squeezed Wednesday evening, as the heat gets more intense. They asked power plant operators to increase their output between 7 p..m. to 10 p.m.

Workers can't escape the heat

In Paris, construction crews are starting work at dawn and taking more frequent breaks. One site manager told the Associated Press that crews are taking breaks every 30 to 60 minutes and are finding shade behind construction vehicles.

"We then make cool boxes with ice packs available and then they take turns to get water for the entire team and each one of them pays close to attention their colleague's physical well-being," said Travis Demarque.

"We're suffocating," said Nordine El Kaouri, 48, an automotive worker at a Renault plant in Douai, northern France. 

He told AFP, "There are some people, at certain times, who faint. And it’s really, really, really hard to stay at the workstation."

(MORE: UK extreme heat conference canceled by extreme heat)

Over the past four years, more than 200,000 people across Europe died from heat-related causes, and most of those were preventable, the World Health Organization’s Europe office said this month. The above-average temperatures can cause heat exhaustion and life-threatening heat stroke.