While Europe does battle with a heatwave named Lucifer, the Middle East is enduring a summer so brutal that even those accustomed to Baghdad’s searing August are labelling it “ungodly”. As temperatures rose towards 51C on Thursday, Iraq’s government declared a mandatory holiday, allowing civic servants to shelter at home. Facebook Twitter Pinterest People swim in the Shatt al-Arab waterway in Basra to beat the heat. The generator in my neighbourhood that provides electricity for about 300 houses has caught fire from the heat. We’ve never witnessed such a summer before.”Salam al-Saade, from the eastern suburb of Mashtal, said: “The heat is unbearable.

Source: The Guardian August 10, 2017 15:45 UTC