Dramatic images captured the moment lightning struck the Eiffel Tower as powerful thunderstorms rolled across Paris in the wake of an intense heatwave.
Bertrand Kulik, a 46-year-old photographer, watched the spectacle unfold from his home in the French capital on Saturday night, capturing a series of bolts hitting the world-famous landmark.
The storm system that swept over Paris brought winds of up to 93mph, while frequent flashes of lightning lit up the skyline above the City of Lights.
Kulik said: “I took these photographs from my home in Paris. I had a front-row seat to the storm and could feel how privileged I was to be in the perfect place to capture these images and witness the phenomenon.”
The severe weather followed several days of extreme heat across France, which officials said had been linked to around 1,000 more deaths than expected.
“Since June 24, approximately 1,000 additional deaths (unconsolidated figures) have been observed compared to the deaths recorded in previous months,” Public Health France said in a statement.
The agency said many of the excess deaths involved people aged 65 and over, noting a 40 percent increase in the number of people dying at home.
Elsewhere in Europe, sweltering conditions are expected to persist. At least 191 million people are forecast to experience temperatures of 35C or higher on Sunday, with Germany, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland among the countries facing particularly intense heat.
This is the electrifying moment the Eiffel Tower is struck by lighting as thunderstorms swept across Paris following a major heatwave
Photographer Bertrand Kulik, 46, watched nature put on a breathtaking display from his home in the French capital last night
A total of 381 million people in Europe, excluding Turkey, will see temperatures surpass 30C, according to analysis based on forecasts from the German Meteorological Service and 2025 population projections from the Joint Research Centre collated by Austrian NGO Klimadashboard.
The World Health Organization said Sunday that over 1,300 excess deaths had been recorded in Europe since June 21 in connection with the record-breaking heatwave roasting much of the continent.
‘Right now 150 million people are living under extreme heat, hundreds have died, schools are shut, grids are buckling,’ WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on X, adding that ‘more than 1,300 excess deaths have been recorded since 21 June linked to high temperatures in Europe’.
In Sweden, several people were injured, including one seriously, when lightning struck a tree at an amusement park in southern Sweden on Sunday.
‘Today we had a severe thunderstorm over Tosselilla, which led to several lightning strikes directly in the area. This has resulted in a few people being injured,’ the Toselilla Sommarland park said in a post to Facebook.
It initially said there were no serious injuries, but local health officials later said a 45-year-old woman was in hospital with ‘serious injuries’.
Two others were taken to hospital by ambulance, while two adults and five children were seeking treatment.
‘All with minor injuries,’ regional health authority Region Skane said in a statement.
Public broadcaster SVT reported that the amusement park had anticipated the storm and made sure no visitors were on the rides or in the waterpark pools.
However, lightning struck a tree on the site, and a group passing nearby was hit by falling debris.
The Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute (SMHI) on Sunday issued warnings for large parts of southern Sweden as thunderstorms and heavy rain swept across the region.
In the UK, an amber warning for extreme heat has been extended but the record-breaking hot spell is coming to a close.
The Met Office warning covering the East and South East now runs until 9am on Sunday.
Heat records were broken on three consecutive days from Wednesday, reaching a provisional peak of 37.3C in Santon Downham in Suffolk on Friday, and Saturday saw a high of 32.3C in the same location.
The day’s heat and humidity has caused thunderstorms to develop, and a yellow thunderstorm warning is active until 11pm on Saturday.
It says frequent lightning, large hail, gusty winds and brief heavy downpours are possible in central and eastern parts of England.
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Thunderstorms have already hit the UK and the weather disrupted flights on Saturday.
A total of 484 inbound and outbound flights were delayed across Gatwick and Heathrow airports by the evening, according to the FlightAware tracker.
Heathrow had 42% of its flights delayed and Gatwick 50%, it said.
Pictured: People breaking the rules and swimming in the ponds of Hampstead heath on Friday
People cool off in the River Wey, as kayakers pass by near Guildford on Saturday
Meanwhile, early on Saturday morning, Kent Fire and Rescue Service were responding to three house fires caused by lightning strikes.
The thunderstorms forecast on Saturday evening will move rapidly north-eastwards before clearing above the North Sea.
The Met Office warning said short term loss of power is possible and damage to vulnerable structures.
High temperatures are clinging on in East Anglia and some face another tropical night that will not drop below 20C on Saturday.
However, temperatures are expected to drop by around 5C or 6C the following day.
This will produce highs of 25C to 26C on the eastern coast and around the mid-to-low 20Cs elsewhere.
Humidity levels will also fall to give ‘a much fresher feel than what we saw for the latter part of last week’, Met Office meteorologist Liam Eslik said.
The heatwave smashed the long-standing record for June heat, which dates back to the summer of 1976, by more than 1C, which is significant given such records were usually broken only by a fraction of a degree in the past.
A total of six people drowned during the hot weather and there were 15 water-related fatalities in May.
Scientists warned that the heatwave would have been virtually impossible 50 years ago, with human-driven climate change fuelling more intense and frequent extreme heat events.
Health chiefs warned of the impact the conditions were having on services this week as they faced significantly more life-threatening emergency calls.
Hundreds of schools and nurseries were forced to close and a hosepipe ban was brought in for Kent amid surging demand.
Horse riders on Wimbledon Common, southwest London brave hot and humid conditions on Saturday morning
Children from Grasmere School in Cumbria are taught maths, physics and water safety on Friday
Several hospitals declared critical incidents, with University Hospital Southampton forced to cancel a number of planned operations and some outpatient appointments.
The heatwave was driven by a ‘heat-dome’ – an area of high pressure that stalls over a region and traps heat – settling over western Europe and bringing extreme conditions across the continent.
This has been compounded by human-driven climate change, mostly caused by burning fossil fuels, which is making such extreme heatwaves more frequent and intense.
