Posted on 07/20/2005 8:01:52 PM PDT by Libloather
Broiling summer brings droughts
By John Tagliabue The New York Times
TUESDAY, JULY 19, 2005
PARIS - All through a long hot summer, the temperatures in Europe have soared to unusual levels.
In central France, three firemen died on Sunday trying to control a fire in a barn. In Spain on Monday, the police discovered the bodies of 11 firemen who died after being trapped by a giant forest fire in the central part of the country.
In Switzerland, Alpine rescuers recovered the body of a climber yielded up by a melting glacier more than 20 years after he plunged to his death in the Alps.
The furnace-like weather has brought to several countries, including France, Spain and Portugal, their worst droughts since the early postwar years, when records were first kept. Tinder-dry conditions now stretch from north Africa to the north of France, causing billions of euros' worth of damage as crops dry up, rivers evaporate and farmland turns yellow.
As temperatures threatened to soar in parts of France through the week, the health minister, Xavier Bertrand, released more than $31 million in emergency funds under a plan to help protect elderly people from the effects of the heat. The national heat wave plan was set up after the summer of 2003, when summer temperatures consistently higher than 32 degrees Celsius, or 90 degrees Fahrenheit, killed 15,000 people, mostly elderly, and prompted a national outcry. Bertrand was moved to take action after the news that two elderly homeless people had been found dead, apparently victims of the excessive heat, in the coastal town of Saint-Brieuc in Brittany.
European leaders have been calling on the people to restrain their use of water to help stretch supplies.
(Excerpt) Read more at iht.com ...
Good one.
DAMN IT this thread turning into very right for the French or very wrong depend on how the French see American see sense of humor
I got question how many elderly died already on this summer heat wave in France ALREADY
Maybe the French and Germans should talk less about Kyoto and invest in A/C.
Red6
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.