Bone dry Kent seems like previous west because it’s dubbed ‘Kent Eastwood’ the land with no rain
Kent has been left looking like the old west as the UK battles record breaking temperatures this summer many Brits are struggling to find respite from the boiling heat
The fields of Kent are unrecognisable (Image: Getty Images)
A bone dry field in Kent looks more like a Texas ranch than Britain’s green and pleasant land after weeks without meaningful rain.
A young dairy herd crossed the scorched pasture near Ashford yesterday as the relentless hot weather turned once-lush fields into a dusty landscape. Swathes of England are in drought following prolonged dry weather and three heatwaves.
Water firms say demand has soared by 30% on the hottest days of the year, while more than 20 million households are already living under hosepipe bans in parts of England and Wales.
It comes as the boiling heat which has hit the country this summer has led to Brits taking “drastic action” by sleeping in the kitchen, missing work or booking hotels to cope with heatwaves.
Kent looks like the set of a Clint Eastwood movie (Image: Corbis via Getty Images)
Research by Citizens Advice found millions of people “trapped in homes they can’t cool” with half saying they cannot stop their houses overheating.
It is demanding Government action on “soaring heat in summer and unaffordable energy bills in winter”. Action taken by those struggling to cope included sleeping in the kitchen, garden, or on a balcony, taking sick days or paying for hotels.
The study also found 90,000 people with communal heating were unable to turn it off even in summer.
Brits have been stuck with homes they can’t cool down(Image: Getty Images)
Citizens Advice chief executive Clare Moriarty said: “For far too many people, a summer heatwave means being trapped in a sweltering home with no control over the temperature.
“The Government has a vital opportunity to help fix this through the Warm Homes Plan.
“By investing in better insulation, ventilation, and heat network upgrades, we can ensure people’s homes are warmer in the winter and safer and cooler in the summer.”
Last month it was estimated 2,700 died from heat related this summer(Image: Getty Images)
Last month experts estimated 2,700 people died from heat-related causes during May and June’s record hot spells.
Researchers from Imperial College London, the Met Office, and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) estimated that there were 2,700 excess deaths in England and Wales over the two heatwaves.
And they found that climate change significantly drove up the death toll, as more than two fifths (42%) died as a result of the extra heat caused by human activity – mostly burning fossil fuels.
The UK has witnessed some record breaking temperatures this summer(Image: Getty Images)
Their study, which used peer-reviewed methods to deliver near rapid estimates of deaths, examined the periods around the record-breaking heatwaves of May, when temperatures peaked at 35.1C, and June, which hit new highs for the month of above 37C, accompanied by high humidity. The analysis used weather data, climate models and heat-related deaths research to estimate the number of people who died in the heatwaves, and compare it to how many lives would have been lost in a climate that had not been warmed by human activities.
