Heatwaves that could kill hundreds of people and melt roads are expected to hit the UK every other year within the next few decades, experts warned today.
The Met Office urged London’s authorities to plan for the conditions.
It came as a London Assembly committee launched an investigation into whether the city would be able to cope with extreme weather events in the future.
Speaking at one of the committee’s hearings this week, Met Office expert Dr Matt Huddleston said the heatwave risk must be taken into account when new road, rail and housing infrastructure is being built in London.
He told Assembly Members: “A summer heatwave like we had in 2003 or 2006 — the likelihood has already doubled under climate change.
“We are expecting them to be normal, as in the equivalent of every other year, by 2040. So we can be rather confident that we must prepare for heatwaves.” The 2003 heatwave left thousands dead across Europe, including 2,000 in the UK, 600 of whom were in London. As temperatures soared again in 2006, road surfaces melted and railways buckled.
Dr Huddleston’s words come as the Mayor is drawing up a plan for the capital’s infrastructure needs up to 2050. The Mayor’s senior adviser for energy and environment Matthew Pencharz said Boris Johnson always took expert advice on such projects.
