英国《金融时报》记者联合报道 2007年7月31日 星期二

在过去一周里，气候反常使欧洲各地蒙受了数十亿美元的损失。

高温、火灾、洪水与暴风雨造成近千人死亡，天气状况还使数千人流离失所，或生活陷入混乱。在欧洲的很多国家，近来的天气状况打破了历史纪录。

农业和旅游业遭受的打击尤为沉重，一些地区的农作物因炙热而枯萎，另一些地区则出现涝灾；游客被迫逃离，以躲避欧洲南部的大火和北部国家的暴风雨。火灾与洪水造成的停电和缺水，影响到数十万家庭和企业，这造成了更大的混乱。

在希腊，气温达到了43摄氏度，相比之下，往年同期平均气温为35度。大面积的森林火灾造成了混乱和停电，使情况进一步恶化。

周二，停电造成7列希腊客运列车中途临时停车数小时。周四，希腊政府让公务员提前下班，以图减少电力需求。

在整个欧洲东南部地区，游客的度假计划被明显打乱。游客被迫撤离火灾地区的酒店，而一些道路也由于太过危险而关闭。

该地区有数百人因中暑死亡。希腊通过开放老年人可以休息的空调俱乐部，基本避免了这一问题；但在匈牙利，政府官员称，约有500人因中暑死亡，其中大部分是老年人。罗马尼亚也有行人昏倒街头的报道，据认为当地至少有27人因中暑死亡。

此轮热浪还凸现出欧洲东南部地区电力行业存在的问题。过去十几年来，巴尔干西部的电网一直存在投资匮乏状况，而由于长期干旱，水电站产能也低于正常水平。保加利亚作为该地区主要备用电力供应国，依据加入欧盟的条件，于今年1月关闭了多瑙河畔的Kozloduy核电站，这使得今年保加利亚的电力出口下降了70%以上。

在保加利亚，当地气温打破了以往纪录，过去两周，摄氏44度的高温引发了全国各地数十场山（野）火。本周四，保加利亚权威部门报道称，过去24小时内全国共发生345起山（野）火，其中70起造成了私人财产受损。火灾导致两人死亡，四人受伤。

在塞尔维亚，劳工部门下达了户外工作禁令，禁止在白天最热的时间段进行户外工作，当地气温打破了历史纪录，达到43度。很多商家因此关门，平日熙熙攘攘的贝尔格莱德市中心几近荒芜。

在其邻国马其顿和波黑，本周早些时候气温达到了摄氏45度。当地很多医院都没有空调设施，在救治中暑病人方面困难重重。

消防员在波斯尼亚和联合国管理下的科索沃遇到了更多的困难，高温引爆了很多上世纪90年代战争所遗留下来的地雷。

但在欧洲北部，造成混乱的是洪水而不是大火。英国经历了有史以来最为潮湿的初夏，本周仍在持续的降雨量超过了1789年的上一个峰值水平。在英国格劳斯特郡(Gloucestershire) 受灾最严重的一个地区，有关部门向当地驻户发放了逾2000万升瓶装水。当地的供水、排水和电力系统都被洪水所破坏。

在谈到瓶装水的时候，格劳斯特郡居民保罗o布拉兹沃思(Paul Bloodworth)向英国《金融时报》表示：“我很高兴能得到这个，它现在可是稀缺商品。”保罗家的房子勉强躲过了洪水的破坏。

德国也出现了极端的气候，巴伐利亚发生了水灾，而汉堡附近遭受了强暴风雨的破坏。上周末在巴伐利亚，一位82岁的老妇人被洪水淹死在自己地下室家中，当地洪水深达到了1.5米。

由于汽车部分淹没在一米深的水里，当地的一条高速公路被关闭，一些桥梁被淹没，几百所房屋被毁坏。在汉堡附近举行的一个音乐节上， 950名年轻人不得不通过紧急救援人员撤离，其中14人受伤。

天气预报显示恶劣的天气将会继续到下周，不过在8月份状况应有所缓解。

英国《金融时报》菲奥娜o哈维(Fiona Harvey)伦敦、克林o霍普(Kerin Hope)雅典、 西奥多o特罗弗(Theodor Troev) 索非亚、尼尔o麦克唐纳（Neil MacDonald）贝尔格莱德、休o威廉森(Hugh Williamson)柏林、弗朗西斯o威廉姆斯(Frances Williams)日内瓦报道

译者/李碧波

Europe suffers onslaught of fire and water

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.

Hundreds of deaths in the region have also been attributed to heatstroke. Though Greece has managed largely to avoid such problems by opening air-conditioned clubs where the elderly can rest, in Hungary officials said about 500 people, mostly elderly, were thought to have died. Romania also reported people collapsing in the street, with at least 27 people thought to have died from heatstroke.

The heatwave has also highlighted problems in south-east Europe's energy sector. The west Balkan grid has been starved of investment for more than a decade, while hydro-power units are running below capacity because of a prolonged drought. Bulgaria, the region's main back-upsupplier, has cut electricity exports this year by more than 70 per cent following the shut-down in January of two units at the Kozloduy nuclear plant on the Danube, as a condition of European Union accession.

Bulgaria has seen previous weather records smashed as temperatures of 44°C sparked dozens of wildfires around the country in the past two weeks. On Thursday, authorities reported 345 wildfires in the country in the previous 24 hours, including 70 that resulted in damage to private property. Two people were reported killed in the fires, while four more were injured.

The Serbian labour ministry imposed a stoppage on outdoor work during the hottest hours of the day as the temperatures reached a record 43°C. Many vendors closed shop, and normally bustling downtown streets in Belgrade appeared nearly deserted.

Temperatures reached 45°C early in the week in neighbouring Macedonia and Bosnia-Herzegovina, where hospitals - many lacking air conditioning - struggled to cope with heatwave victims.

Firefighters encountered added difficulties in Bosnia and United Nations-administered Kosovo as the heat set off landmines left over from the 1990s wars.

But for northern parts of Europe, flood rather than fire has been the cause of chaos. The UK had its wettest early summer ever recorded as continuing rainfall this week exceeded the previous high set in 1789. More than 20m litres a day of bottled water is being distributed to householders in one of the worst hit areas of the UK in Gloucestershire, where water, sewage and electricity networks have been overwhelmed by the floodwaters.

Referring to the bottled water, Paul Bloodworth in Gloucester, whose house narrowly missed damage, told the FT: "I'm happy to get this. It's a scarce commodity now."

Extreme weather also hit Germany, causing flooding in Bavaria and severe storm damage near Hamburg. In Bavaria, an 82-year-old woman drowned in her basement apartment last weekend when flood waters 1.5m high hit the region.

A motorway was closed after cars partially disappeared under a metre of water, bridges were submerged and hundreds of houses severely damaged. At a music festival near Hamburg, 950 young people had to be evacuated by emergency services, and 14 people were injured.

Forecasters say that the bad weather could continue into next week, although some respite is expected in August. Reporting by Fiona Harvey in London, Kerin Hope in Athens, Theodor Troev in Sofia, Neil MacDonald in Belgrade, Hugh Williamson in Berlin and Frances Williams in Geneva.