Publication Date June 26, 2019 | USA Today via Associated Press

Germany, France impose restrictions on cars amid heatwave; will it affect your trip?

Germany
A woman wades in a fountain at Paris' Trocadero esplanade in an attempt to keep cool amid 100-degree weather in the French capital. Photo: KENZO TRIBOUILLARD, AFP/Getty Images
A woman wades in a fountain at Paris' Trocadero esplanade in an attempt to keep cool amid 100-degree weather in the French capital. Photo: KENZO TRIBOUILLARD, AFP/Getty Images

Large parts of western and central Europe sweated under blazing temperatures Wednesday, with authorities in one German region imposing temporary speed limits on some stretches of the autobahn as a precaution against heat damage.

Authorities have warned that temperatures could top 40 degrees Celsius (104 Fahrenheit) in parts of the continent over the coming days as a plume of dry, hot air moves north from Africa.

...

French charities and local officials are providing extra help for the elderly, the homeless and the sick this week, remembering that some 15,000 people, many of them elderly, died in France during a 2003 heat wave.

Prime Minister Edouard Philippe cited the heat wave as evidence of climate destabilization and vowed to step up the government’s fight against climate change.