translated from Spanish: Europe melts by heat wave and breaks new records

Millions of Europeans lived on a Thursday (25.07.2019) suffocating by the heat wave, the second in less than a month, which culminated in temperature records in Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands, as well as in Paris, where they were overtaken 42 degrees.
The European weather website www.meteoalarm.eu reflects red-level warnings – extreme danger – in Belgium, France, Croatia and Luxembourg and orange – danger – in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Czech Republic, Denmark, Spain, Italy and the Netherlands.
42.6 degrees in Paris
After living the hottest night in its history, France today topped the extreme temperatures rankings again and scored the highest records to date in various northern locations – 42.6 degrees in Paris, 41 in Reims and 40 in Lille – that forced the decrement of the alert to red in 20 departments. The previous highest record in Paris was on 28 July 1947, when mercury marked 40.4 degrees Celsius.
Climate change
Heat waves will become increasingly prevalent around the world, scientists say hold human-caused climate change accountable. Global temperatures have never risen in the past 2,000 years as fast as now, according to data published Wednesday in two separate studies in the journals Nature and Nature Geoscience.
New highs in Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands
Records also fell in several northern European countries: 42.6 degrees Celsius in Germany, 40.6 degrees Celsius in Belgium, and 40.4 degrees Celsius in the Netherlands. The heat was such that the metal dilated on some bridges in Amsterdam, so mayoral employees had to spray them with water to try to cool them down.
In Germany, the Grohnde nuclear power plant in Lower Saxony (west) will temporarily close on Friday by noon, as the water temperature of the Weser River is expected to reach the critical threshold of 26oC at that time. The water is used to cool the reactor and is then poured back into the river.
The town of Herne (west) announced that it will evacuate all fish from the city’s ponds on Friday to save them, as due to the heat, the oxygen content in the water is greatly reduced. The fish will be released on the Rhine.
In the middle of the summer season, the German railway company Deutsche Bahn informed its users that due to the heat wave they will be able to postpone their journeys free of charge. High-speed train operator Thalys, which connects several cities in France, Belgium, Holland and Germany, announced the suspension of ticket sales on all its lines by the canicle.

Original source in Spanish