The Daily Mail pointed out that “rising temperatures and fires that burned entire forests in Europe represent a natural disaster reminiscent of the end of the world.” The natural disaster in France has reached such proportions that the authorities were forced to seek help and reinforcements from all over the European Union.

Hundreds of rescuers from Germany, Poland, Romania and Italy are heading to the Gironde region near the French city of Bordeaux to help put out a fire that has forced thousands to flee their homes. More than 60,000 hectares burned in France this year, six times the average for the period 2006-2021, according to the European Forest Fire Information Centre.

The heat melted an ice-covered pass 2,000 years ago in Switzerland along the Oder River, and people living along the river were warned not to swim in it. Italy is also facing its worst drought in seven decades as the already massive Po River has fallen to the detriment of local farmers who use it to irrigate their crops.