With temperatures expected to hit at least 33C (91F) in London today, a “Extreme Heat” warning is in effect, raising the risk of wildfires spreading throughout tinderbox Britain and endangering homes.
Experts have issued a double heat warning due to the impending heatwave. Manchester is expected to reach 31C (88F), but Portsmouth will only hit 29C (84F), which isn’t nearly as hot as the record-breaking 40.3C blast last month.
For all of southern England and Wales, the Met Office has also increased the Fire Severity Index to exceptional, the highest level, coupled with an amber, as ‘lethally hot’ temperatures of 36C (97F) are expected this weekend.
Additionally, for seven weeks straight, the warning system has been at its second-highest level of alert, the longest period since 1976.
There are rumours that the government may declare a drought in the South tomorrow, and the police are planning to increase patrols for wildfires in high-risk regions.
As water providers are asked to save vital supplies as we go into a “likely extremely dry fall,” meteorologists warned that the heat is expected to have an impact on health, transportation, and working conditions.
In parts of central, southern, and eastern England, the probability is extremely high, according to Met Office meteorologist Marco Petagna.
It begins to rise further as Friday and the weekend approach, reaching the greatest level of extraordinary danger.
With no rain anticipated to assist ease the danger of drought that has triggered hosepipe bans and fire warnings, Britain has been warned to prepare for a blistering heatwave this week.
A Level 3 Heat Health Alert also went into force on Tuesday and has been extended until Saturday.
In his 32-year tenure in the fire service, Mark Hardingham, the head of the National Fire Chiefs Council (NFCC), stated he “can’t recall a summer like this.”
The earth couldn’t possibly get more drier than it currently is, he told The Telegraph, therefore it doesn’t matter if temperatures won’t be as high as they were three weeks ago.
“It’s impossible to predict where the next wildfire will occur since they are as common in semi-urban areas as they are in rural villages.”
The Fire Brigades Union’s national officer, Riccardo La Torre, has also issued a warning that services in the UK are “totally unprepared” for the amount of danger presented by the impending heatwave.
It is a horrible, awful task to put out these flames, Mr. La Torre said Sky News.
The rate at which they spread and the temperature at which they burn.
The truth is that as a fire and rescue organisation, we were absolutely equipped to handle it.
We have lost almost 11,500 firemen, or more than a quarter of our staff, since 2010. However, we are placing a greater and greater on on them to cope with these catastrophic weather occurrences.
The experts on the ground have been warning about these situations, and we have clearly seen the reality of that over the last two weeks.
“Because we can’t get to these fires quickly enough, firefighters have been hurt, ended up in hospitals, we’ve watched people lose their homes, companies fail, and infrastructure burn to the ground.
We just lack the resources to address them effectively when we do.
Paul Davies, the director of the Met Office, said that due to rising temperatures, heatwaves may now happen every five years and every year by the end of the century.
When I first began out as a forecaster, I would have said, “No, definitely not!” if someone had indicated that you will experience 40 degrees in your lifetime.
“We’re in unknown territory.” We’re entering unfamiliar territory, and it’s not just the UK; it’s the whole world.
Families are being forewarned throughout the nation to prepare for some chilly evenings with temperatures unlikely to fall below the mid- to upper teens.
There have been hosepipe restrictions and warnings about the effects on agriculture, waterways, and wildlife as a result of the UK experiencing the driest first seven months of the year in decades and hot periods.
According to the most recent research from the UK Centre for Ecology and Hydrology (UKCEH), low river flows and groundwater levels in southern England and Wales are projected to persist for the next three months, perhaps reaching very low levels.
Rain may be on the way early next week, according to Mr. Petagna, who added: “There are hints that we might have some rain next week, but specifics at this time are questionable.”
“A few weeks of mild rain to seep into the ground are truly what we need.” Because the ground is so firm, flooding problems are more likely to occur during thunderstorms.
Although the water sector claims to be doing “all necessary” to limit leaks, the problem nonetheless persists.
It follows comments made by Tory front-runner Liz Truss that “more action hasn’t been taken to deal with faulty pipes” and that “tougher action” needs to be taken against water providers.
According to Stuart Colville, head of policy at Water UK, stopping water leakage is a “continuous fight,” but the water business is doing “all imaginable” to do so.
The Environment Agency declaring a drought in England is becoming “increasingly inevitable,” according to Mr. Colville, who also noted that this would be the “correct conclusion given some of the strain on the environment that we’re witnessing at the moment.”
The first dry hamlet in Britain is in Oxfordshire, where the inhabitants are now dependent on tanker and bottled water supply.
The now-dry Stokenchurch Reservoir used to provide water to Northend, a town in Buckinghamshire.
Due to the significant demand on the natural resource in the recent hot weeks, Thames Water was forced to provide water trucks and bottles to its inhabitants.
Additionally, the firm recently disclosed that it will soon impose a hosepipe restriction on 15 million users in the counties of London, Surrey, and Gloucestershire.
‘We’re sorry to customers in the Stokenchurch region who are experiencing lower pressure than usual owing to technical concerns with our Stokenchurch reservoir,’ a Thames Water representative told MailOnline.
The situation is improving, and supplies have been returned to consumers. We have a team on the scene working diligently to address this as quickly as possible.
In order to maintain water pressure for these clients and to distribute water bottles, “We are deploying tankers to assist enhance supplies to consumers in Northend.”
Customers may encounter less pressure than usual during times of greater demand. Typically, these hours fall in the early morning and late afternoon.
We’ve also determined that every person in the impacted region who pre-registered with us has specific needs, such as being medically dependent on water, so we can get in contact and make sure we offer them the care and assistance they need.
We acknowledge how annoying this is, particularly in this hot weather, and value customers’ patience as we try to fix problems.
Andrew Sells, who led Natural England from 2014 to 2019, said last night that water corporations had sold house developers reservoirs that would have helped with the drought.
In the previous 30 years, exactly zero new reservoirs have been created by all of our water companies combined, he wrote in the Daily Telegraph. “Several of our water firms opted to build residences on some of their reservoirs, and this week we learnt that.”
No doubt some reservoirs had reached the end of their useful life, but by removing this infrastructure and leaving no alternatives in its place, they had once again prioritised short-term profits above long-term supplies.