UK takes stock of the hottest day in its history

Firefighters worked overnight to douse blazes and engineers scrambled on Wednesday to fix bent train tracks on Britain’s hottest day in history, prompting warnings that it was necessary to redouble efforts to tackle climate change.

The London Fire Brigade experienced its busiest day since World War II on Tuesday, with temperatures exceeding 40 degrees Celsius for the first time, sparking fires that destroyed dozens of buildings in the capital and sparked flames that They spread across the dry grasslands like a powder keg on the sides of the train tracks and the streets.

“We have nothing, everything is gone,” Timothy Stock, a resident who lost his home to fire in the east London town of Wennington, told GLM. Trains running from London along England’s east coast were canceled until at least noon Wednesday after a fire near the central English city of Peterborough damaged signaling equipment. Other network fires damaged tracks and overhead lines.

“Please do not travel to or from London Kings Cross today,” said the London North Eastern rail operator of London’s main station.

The British Met Office said a new provisional temperature record of 40.3C was recorded in Coningsby in central England on Tuesday, with 34 sites across the country exceeding the previous high of 38.7C recorded in 2019.

Meteorologists forecast a much cooler day on Wednesday, with intervals of rain later.