A man rides his bike along a flooded road near Chiba metro station in Chiba, Japan, on Aug. 13, 2026, as heavy rain swept through the area. Torrential rain pummeled eastern Japan, triggering landslides and power outages, and prompting the weather authority to issue its highest-level heavy rain warning for the region for the first time.
PHILIP FONG/AFP via Getty Images
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PHILIP FONG/AFP via Getty Images
In Japan, record-breaking rains outside the capital Tokyo on Friday led to widespread flooding and at least eight deaths, according to Japanese media.
The overnight rains also knocked out transportation during the peak of holiday travel season.
Some parts of Chiba prefecture outside Tokyo saw three times more rain in half a day than they usually see for the whole month of August, according to Japan’s meteorological agency.
Evacuation orders were issued for more than 100,000 residents. About 40 percent of the prefectures, cities and towns were flooded. More than 20,000 households lost power.
Several of those who died were found on flooded roads trapped in submerged cars, according to Kyodo News.
Trains and highways were shut down, and thousands of travelers were stranded at Narita International Airport, which serves Tokyo.
The rainfall and floods come as the country celebrates the Obon festival, when many Japanese travel to their hometowns, join festivals and prepare special foods.
Picture taken on August 14, 2026 with a drone shows the “Binger Mäuseturm” (Bingen Mouse Tower) on a small island in the dried-up river Rhine near Bingen, western Germany. As a heat wave dries Germany’s rivers, government ministers are at odds over what to do about it — re-engineer the waterways or restore them to their natural state.
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Europe heatwave
In Europe, the intense temperatures this week are affecting some 300 million people, more than half Europe’s population. Officials say the current heat wave – Europe’s fifth this summer – is lasting longer than the deadly heat wave of 2003 that killed tens of thousands, mostly elderly.
Europe is warming twice as fast as any other continent due to atmospheric and oceanic currents and the fact that it borders the Arctic, where glaciers are melting to leave bare land that absorbs instead of reflects the heat.
In France, Italy and Spain, some 92 million people are sweltering in temperatures exceeding 95 degrees Fahrenheit in cities largely without air-conditioning.
The latest blast of extreme heat comes just a week after France and Spain faced some of the worst wildfires they have ever dealt with.
Those fires were brought on by the heat and intense drought, which has led to water restrictions across nearly 70% of France. French officials say that the “historic and critical” drought is affecting the country’s rivers and its nuclear capacity.
“I always take the sidewalk in the shade and avoid the sun as much as possible,” says Paris resident Clara Martin, who like most does not have air-conditioning. She said she keeps her shutters closed and sits in front of a fan.
A young woman sitting on a terrace shields herself from the sun with a fan decorated with Parisian landmarks during a severe heat wave in Paris on Aug. 12, 2026.
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DJOUDI HAMANI/Hans Lucas/AFP via Getty Images
In Italy, the receding water in Rome’s Tiber River has exposed the remains of the ancient Nero’s Bridge, which once connected Rome’s city center with the banks of the river, according to The Associated Press.
In Croatia, firefighters battled a major blaze overnight in the coastal town of Omis, where 14 people were hospitalized, according to the country’s prime minister, Andrej Plenkovic.
The water decrease in the Danube River – used to cool the nuclear reactors – forced Romania to start the shutdown of its second nuclear reactor on Thursday at Cernavoda nuclear plant, according to the AP.
In neighboring Hungary, Prime Minister Peter Magyar announced this week his government was working on plans to provide “a long-term solution to the disruptions caused by the low water levels of the Danube” related to the country’s nuclear power plant.
UK record
Temperatures hit 100-degrees on Thursday in parts of southern England and firefighters responded to a rare wildfire in the New Forest, where normally green pastures have turned brown.
In West Midlands, fires destroyed homes and forced dozens to evacuate. A child and three firefighters were among those hospitalized, according to BBC.
British Prime Minister Andy Burnham said it was “awful to see homes and communities hit by fires across the country.”
A person uses a fan to cool down in Trafalgar Square during the fifth heatwave of the season on Aug. 13, 2026, in London.
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Alishia Abodunde/Getty Images Europe
Drought has been declared in three-quarters of England and all of Wales, where heat health warnings are in effect across the country.
Some water companies have warned they could run out of water within six weeks and are urging residents not to wash cars or use sprinklers, and even reuse pasta water in their gardens.
July was the hottest month on record in the United Kingdom, and the country’s weather agency says 2026 is on track to be the hottest year on record as well.
NPR’s Anthony Kuhn in Seoul, Eleanor Beardsley in Paris and Lauren Frayer in London contributed reporting.
