KEY POINTS:
Europe has been hit by weather extremes this northern summer:
BRITAIN
Flash flooding forced Britain to call out its Royal Air Force to rescue hundreds of people stranded in central England. "We've seen a month's rainfall for July fall in a day," said a Meteorological Office spokesman. Thousands of people were taken to emergency centres. "We've rescued in excess of 100 people by air," a Royal Air Force spokeswoman said. "We've picked people out of rivers or who were stranded on bits of land cut off by water as well as rescuing people from caravan rooftops."
POLAND
Poland was hit by a tornado, which is rare in Europe. Roofs were ripped off farmhouses and barns and cars destroyed near the southern city of Czestochowa. At least seven people were hurt and hundreds left without power.
ROMANIA
Two people died as temperatures reached 40C, raising the death toll in the past week to nine. Meteorologists said temperatures could get even higher in Romania's southern regions.
BULGARIA
Forest fires have ravaged thousands of hectares of land. Government officials said Russia was sending an aeroplane that could carry up to 40 tonnes of water to join the fight to stop one huge fire in the southeast from spreading.
HUNGARY
The heat has caused disruptions on railway and tram lines as tracks and power lines were damaged by the heat.
GREECE
Dozens of children were forced to flee their summer camp near the city of Corinth this week when a huge brush fire threatened to engulf their compound. Three firefighters were killed in a blaze on the island of Crete.
- REUTERS
