Europe and China endure extreme weather from heat and floods

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• Geoff Bennett:

  Good evening. It is good to be with you and we begin tonight with fires raging across Europe and floods inundating south and northwest China. As many Europeans endure record breaking heat, climate scientists caution that these extreme weather events are likely to happen more often.

  The buzz of helicopters filled the air, racing to extinguish dozens of wildfires burning across Spain. Roads are cut off and thousands of residents have fled their homes.

• Maria Del Carmen Sanchez (through translator):

  I'm doing very badly, very stressed and very badly. We are all very stressed. It's a shame how the fields are burning.

  Miguel Angel Tamayo, Resident of Jerte, Spain (through translator): At 104 degrees Fahrenheit it's only making it more difficult to extinguish the fire. Climate change affects everyone. This area which is green and cool in the summer is becoming very hot like the south.

• Geoff Bennett:

  Across the border in France, a similar story firefighters working to contain the flames of several wildfires.

• Berangere Couillard, Junior Environment Minister, France (through translator):

  We're dealing with very considerable drought due to insufficient rainfalls over the winter and spring and especially dry month of May. And we now have particularly high temperatures as you can feel.

• Geoff Bennett:

  The high temperatures extend north to the UK, where people crammed onto beaches in search of relief from the heat. Less than 1 percent of homes there have air conditioning. Authorities have issued an emergency declaration ahead of even higher temperatures expected tomorrow and Tuesday.

  From not enough water to far too much, flash floods inundated parts of Southwest and northwest China this weekend. 12 people died and thousands were forced to evacuate their homes.