UK heatwave sees schools shut as taps run DRY while fires RAGE across country
GETTY The military have been brought in to fight the fires sparked by the heatwave
The unprecedented hot weather has sparked fires across the country and Britons fear a hope pipe ban is imminent. Public Health England has issued two ‘Level three’ heatwave warnings for parts of the UK, including the southeast and west. A level three heatwave is triggered when the Met Office confirms the top, known as threshold, temperatures for one of more regions have been reached for one day and the following night, and the forecast for the next day has a greater than 90 percent confidence level that the day threshold temperature will be met. Some schools and homes in Guildford in Surrey ran out of water due to a “technical issue” and a reservoir power failure has led to a water shortage in nearby Haslemere.
UK heatwave in pictures: Baking Britain cracks in hot weather Tue, July 3, 2018 Baking Britain cracks as the hot weather continues. Play slideshow PA 1 of 11 Cracks are appearing in the dry banks of March Haigh reservoir
A few days of hot weather, and there were water shortages across Guildford last night James Walsh
The low amount of rain across the country has sparked fears of a drought as reservoirs dry up. St Nicholas Infant School and Guildford County School are two of the schools in Surrey known to have closed due to a lack of water. James Walsh tweeted: “A few days of hot weather, and there were water shortages across Guildford last night - town centre particularly affected, but down in GU4 too. "Why @thameswater and what are you doing to fix the problem and communicate with residents?”
Suppliers in Derbyshire are struggling to keep up with the water shortage and residents have been given emergency bottles of Severn Trent Water. So far this July, the South West of the country has had just 17 percent of its average rainfall for June. The severe impact of the heatwave has seen the spread of wildfires, more than 100 firefighters continue to battle the Saddleworth Moorland Fire which is destroying the countryside in the north of England.
GETTY People across the country have been making the most out of the heatwave
Hot weather and dry conditions have created the ideal conditions for fire to spread. Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service (GMFRS) crews have been tackling blazes near Saddleworth Moor, Tameside, since June 24. Fire union chiefs have claimed that their firefighters are being pushed to breaking point due to fires across the entire country.