By Fiona Harvey in London, Kerin Hope in Athens, Theodor Troev,in
Sofia, Neil MacDonald in Belgrade, Hugh Williamson
in,Berlin, Frances
Williams in Geneva
Tuesday, July 31, 2007
Billions
of dollars in damage has been wreaked by freak weather across Europe in the past week.
The death toll from the heat, fires, floods and storms has mounted to
the high hundreds, with many thousands more made homeless or having
their lives disrupted by weather conditions that have smashed records
in many countries across the continent.
Agriculture and tourism have been particularly badly hit, with crops
scorched in some areas, waterlogged in others, and
tourists forced to
flee fires in the south and storms and torrential downpours in northern
countries.
Electricity blackouts and water shortages caused by fire and
flood and affecting hundreds of thousands of households and businesses
have compounded the chaos.
In Greece, temperatures have reached 43°C, compared with an
average for the time of year of 35°C. Widespread forest fires have
brought chaos and black-outs have exacerbated the problem.
Seven Greek passenger trains were halted on the tracks for several
hours during a black-out on Tuesday. On Thursday, the government told
civil servants to go home early in an attempt to cut demand for
electricity.
Tourists across the south-eastern part of Europe have faced severe
disruption to their holiday plans, with hotels evacuated in
fire-stricken areas and some roads rendered too dangerous to travel.