Boris Johnson has been accused of being “stopped” as it emerged he would not chair the Cobra emergency committee on Monday afternoon over the extreme temperature as a teenager became the fourth person in the UK in a week she is found dead in a body of water.
The government committee was due to meet on Monday afternoon, as UK temperatures approached a record 38.7 degrees Celsius, to consider the overall response to the extreme weather.
Thames Valley police said Monday a 16-year-old boy had died after being in distress in Bray Lake, near Maidenhead, Berkshire.
Earlier, Northumbria police said a body found in a river near Ovingham, Northumberland, was believed to be that of a 13-year-old boy who went missing after having problems in the water on Sunday.
On Saturday, a 16-year-old boy died in Salford Quays, Greater Manchester, and a 50-year-old man died in a reservoir near Leeds.
At noon on Monday, a maximum temperature of 34.8 ° C (95 ° F) was recorded in Charlwood, Surrey, and forecasters predicted highs of 38 ° C that could threaten the record of 38.7 ° C set in Cambridge on 2019.
Operators halted trains on the rail network for fear of the tracks being ruined, schools were closed in counties such as Nottinghamshire and Hampshire and additional call managers were established to deal with an expected increase of 999 calls. ambulance and consultations on the NHS 111 line.
Shadow Secretary Lisa Nandy said Monday: “We think the government should do several things: first go to work.” She told Sky News that the prime minister has “clearly stopped”, adding: “And so have many of his ministers in his government.”
Kit Malthouse, the Cabinet Office minister who is to chair the Cobra meeting, said the Labor accusation was unfair, while Downing Street said Johnson, who spent the morning at the air show of Farnborough, was being “fully informed.”
Kit Malthouse argues that Boris Johnson missed the Cobra heatwave meeting – video
On Monday at lunchtime, temperatures were above 30ºC in most of England, with Baltasound in the Shetland Islands the coolest place in the UK with 13ºC.
The first “emergency” level 4 heat health alert, which was issued by the UK Health Safety Agency (UKHSA), is in place along with a red extreme heat warning from the UK health office. Met for much of England.
Drivers appeared to be answering calls to avoid unnecessary travel, with a 43% lower congestion level in Birmingham and equally lower in London and Manchester, according to figures from location technology provider TomTom.
Penelope Endersby, the executive director of the Met Office, said: “Perhaps we will see the hottest day in UK history.” But he said Tuesday was expected to be warmer, with 43C appearing as a possibility in modeling.
Endersby said the heat wave would not have happened without climate change and warned: “By 2100, we look forward to [such temperatures] … between one in 15 and one in three, depending on the emission routes we take now and then. “
After Deputy Prime Minister Dominic Raab said people should be tough enough to “enjoy the sun,” Endersby addressed those who “think maybe we shouldn’t tell them to worry about the heat like we call them. to worry about storms. ” the wind ”.
She said: “Without a doubt, the heat causes many hundreds, thousands of excess deaths in the heat waves, so people need to be careful and follow the advice we’ve been giving about staying in the shade. , stay fresh and hydrated “.
Professor Hannah Cloke, a climate scientist at the University of Reading, said: “We know that heat waves are killers.
“We still have people shrugging their shoulders saying that [just] summer … Last year’s heat wave in the UK killed at least 10 times more people than the Grenfells [Tower] fire [that killed 72]. ”
Matthew Taylor, executive director of the NHS Confederation, said the health service had a sinking estate, adding: “Many are not the type of buildings that have the adaptability to this type of challenges”.
Mike Tipton, a professor of physiology at the University of Portsmouth, advised the public to avoid beaches and warned that A&E departments were at risk of being filled with people with sunburn.
“It’s not a great idea to go and sit exposed in these conditions,” he said. He also advised fit and healthy people to avoid exercise, and the rest not to overheat the body.
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Nursing homes, which house many of the most vulnerable to cardiovascular problems caused by heat, have been urged by the UKHSA to regularly check indoor temperatures, provide access to “cool rooms”, closely monitor vulnerable people, shade windows and turn off unnecessary lights and equipment.
Nadra Ahmed, president of the National Assistance Association, urged family and friends to check on people who depend on home care in the middle of the day, when they may not be scheduled for a worker’s visit. professional.
He said dementia care homes faced a particular challenge, as residents may not understand the need to drink more regularly, take off layers of clothing, or put their feet in cold water to cool off.
There may also be an increase in altercations, which are added to the burden on household staff to control residents at a time when there were more than 100,000 vacancies in the sector, Ahmed said.
“Only a very small proportion of nursing homes will be able to put air conditioning,” he said. “Actions that are five years old or older will not have it. I am especially concerned about houses that are converted buildings and especially the [people in] the upper floors. ”
England’s deputy medical director, Thomas Waite, urged people to help anyone who shows symptoms of heat exhaustion, which he said includes excessive sweating, cramps, nausea and vomiting and dizziness.
“That’s really pretty easy to deal with,” he said. “Cool them, put them in the shade, give them some liquid to rehydrate, it can be water, it can be sports drinks or rehydration liquids, and most people will recover well in about 30 minutes. more or less”.
Elsewhere in Europe, firefighters from Portugal, Spain, France, Greece and Morocco were battling wildfires that have destroyed tens of thousands of hectares of land and were expected to continue this week with bottled temperatures.
Temperatures have risen to 47 ºC in Portugal and 45 ºC in Spain, and were expected to rise above 40 ºC in western France.