Heat Wave Moves East Across Europe, Damaging Roads and Straining Hospitals

A heat wave that produced record temperatures in western Europe this week has shifted into central and eastern regions, prompting authorities to close sections of major highways and cancel rail services. In Germany, officials reported that sections of the A2 highway outside Berlin buckled from the heat and were closed to traffic.

Additional road damage was reported in other parts of the country. Temperatures are forecast to reach 40 degrees Celsius. Deutsche Bahn advised passengers to avoid nonessential long-distance and regional travel this weekend and offered refunds for unused tickets.

France, the peak of the heat has begun to ease, but hospitals continue to treat elevated numbers of heat-related cases. The Paris public hospital authority activated its emergency plan across all 38 hospitals after emergency departments recorded nearly 3,000 visits in a 24-hour period, more than one-third above normal.

Phone calls to medical dispatch centers rose nearly 80 percent compared with the same period in 2025. Three-quarters of the country remained under red alert for extreme heat on Thursday and Friday.

Conditions Easing in the U.K.

Friday was confirmed as the hottest June day on record, with a provisional reading of 37.3 degrees Celsius in eastern England. Police recovered the body of a 22-year-old man from a river after he encountered difficulty while swimming during the heat.

Authorities have warned the public to exercise caution around unsupervised waterways.