Now firmly in its second week, the heatwave brought temperatures of more than 30 degrees Celsius (86 degrees Fahrenheit) to most of Europe with hotspots in France, Germany, Spain and northeast Italy.

More than 50 people are estimated to have been killed by the heat, but so far there has been no repetition of the massive loss of life in the heatwave of 2003 when in France alone 15,000 died.

This time round, factors such as greater awareness, slightly lower temperatures and preventative action by goverments to protect the elderly are thought to have helped limit the number of deaths.

Nevertheless, in Italy the heat killed a man of 87 and a woman of 89 in the northern city of Turin during the night of Tuesday, the Italian ANSA news agency reported on Wednesday.

And in Spain, the death of a woman of 83 in Barcelona in northeast Spain brought the toll in that country to nine.

Towards the end of the week, weathermen predict that storms and wet weather will spread east across western Europe, dousing Britain, France and Germany and bringing relief to the millions suffering from the high humidity, sticky nights and blazing sunshine.

In France on Wednesday, the mercury climbed to 38 degrees Celsius (100 F) in the south of the country while Parisians faced a sticky 36 degrees Celsius (97 F).

On Wednesday, French Environment Minister Nelly Olin warned that groundwater levels in the Paris region were at their lowest level in 20 years and said that water restrictions were in place for nearly half of the country.

"It needs to rain without storms. That would be the ideal situation but I don't think we're there yet today," she told French television channel France 2.

In Britain, temperatures reached 33 degrees Celsius (91 F) and residents of Berlin in Germany sizzled in similar heat. The temperature in the German capital was set to hit 36 degrees in the next few days before storms on Saturday.

The level of the river Elbe which crosses Germany's main port Hamburg has dropped below 90 centimetres (three feet) upstream at Dresden near the Czech border, making navigation almost impossible. Normally the level is some 2.2 metres.

In Belgium temperatures reached between 26 degrees C (79 F) on the coast and and 35 degrees (95 F) inland.

In Spain, where scorching summer temperatures are more normal, the mercury hit 38 degrees C (100 F) in the northeast while the southeast was much cooler with 27 C (81 F) in Almeria.

In Poland, firefighters were on maximum alert to tackle forest fires caused by the drought. Over 8,000 fires have broken out in recent days and access has been banned to most forests.

According to the Gazeta Wyborcza newspaper, Warsaw has seen the hottest month of July since temperatures began to be recorded 227 years ago. The average temperature in the Polish capital this month was 23.2 degrees Celsius, five degrees higher than the norm.

In nearby Latvia, potato farmers added their voice to a chorus of anguish from Europe's agricultural sector.

Farmers in France, the Netherlands and Poland have already warned of lower harvests this year and France on Wednesday lowered its forecast for its soft wheat harvest to below 35 million tonnes.

Latvia's potato growers' association said that this year's crop could shrink by 50 percent compared with last year.

"Nothing good can be expected this year, and the situation will be especially sad with the late-bearing potatoes," Ilmars Immurs of the Kartupelu Audzetaji was quoted by the Baltic News Service as saying.

The potato crop would be seriously damaged if Latvia sees no rain in the near future, Imurs added.

In the Netherlands, there were signs that the hot weather was beginning to take its toll on workers.

A leading organisation that monitors health issues for Dutch companies, De Arbo Unie, reported a rise in the number of people calling in sick.

Compared to the average rate, the number of workers on sick leave normally rises by 4.0 in the summer. This year the rise has been 7.4 percent.

Most of the people calling in sick were elderly or overweight, a company spokesman told the Dutch news agency ANP. There was also an increase in the number of diabetics and pregnant women falling ill.

In Denmark, undergoing one of the hottest summers on record, many local authorities have banned open air fires except at fixed barbecue sites. Electricity supplies in the Czech Republic were back to normal Wednesday after widespread blackouts caused by overload the day before.

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