Europe counts cost as rivers run low and wildfires blaze evacuations

Relentless heat waves since May have pushed Europe into a summer of extremes, with major rivers dropping to near-record lows, shipping traffic throttled, and power production strained, while raging wildfires have forced evacuations in Spain and France, and emergency responses in Portugal, Greece, and the Balkans.

More than 25,000 people have died across the region this year due to four heat waves, according to data from government agencies and research institutions, with a fifth heat wave sweeping across the continent this week expected to bring more public health challenges and disruption, break more temperature records, and dent economic output further.

Europe's climate is shifting faster than any other continent, straining public finances, damaging crops, driving inflation swings, reshaping tourism patterns, and forcing a rethink of how the bloc produces energy and transports goods.

"What makes 2026 particularly worrying from an economic perspective is that there are multiple episodes of extreme events," University of Mannheim economist Sehrish Usman told Reuters. "Take heat waves, droughts, wildfires ... these events are taking place at the same time and mostly in the same regions, compounding their impact."