By Krisztina Than and Florion Goga
BUDAPEST/MALLAKASTER, Albania, Aug 5 (Reuters) - The temperature in Austria climbed to a record high on Wednesday, while Hungarians curbed power use as the latest heatwave and drought took their toll on central and southern Europe.
Europe, the world's fastest warming continent, has been ravaged by record-breaking heat and destructive wildfires this summer, with France and Spain particularly hard hit in recent weeks.
The focus of the heatwave has shifted further east, with Italy placing its major cities under a red heat alert as temperatures climbed to around 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit) in some areas. In Albania, emergency services battled a wildfire in the southern region of Mallakaster.
The heat prompted the Vatican to move Pope Leo's first weekly general audience after the July break indoors rather than hold it in St. Peter's Square. Visitors to Rome welcomed the decision as they sought relief from the sweltering conditions.
"I suppose it's better to hold it indoors because of the heat," a tourist from Mexico, Diego Amaya, said.
AUSTRIA HAS RECORD HIGH AGAIN
The temperature hit a record 41.2 C (106.2 Fahrenheit) in the Austrian town of Bad Deutsch-Altenburg near the border with Slovakia, national weather service GeoSphere Austria said. The previous record of 41.0 C was set on Tuesday in nearby Vienna.
Across the border in Hungary, companies and households cut power consumption this week after a government appeal to ease pressure on the grid amid the severe drought. The capital Budapest is facing the peak of the heatwave over the next two days, with temperatures rising close to 40 C on Wednesday afternoon.
Dwindling water levels on the Danube have forced Hungary to largely shut down its sole nuclear plant, which uses the river's waters for cooling, creating an energy crisis that has stretched power supply capacity to its limits.
Slovenia's only nuclear power plant, Krsko, which supplies neighbouring Croatia as well, said on Wednesday it would begin reducing reactor output overnight due to exceptionally high temperatures and low flows on the Sava River, which flows into the Danube. The plant will initially cut generation to 80% of capacity.
Further west, water levels on the river Rhine in Germany have hit new lows, with some cargo services stopping and other sailings continuing but with greatly reduced loads. The Rhine is a route for commodities including grains, ores and petrol.
WILDFIRES BURN IN ALBANIA
In Albania's southern Mallakaster region, wildfires forced the evacuation of about 15 families along with their livestock and pets, while ground and aerial crews fought to stop the flames reaching homes near a village.
Efforts continued to tame another wildfire, likely caused by lightning, in rocky, mountainous terrain south of the Albanian city of Gjirokaster.
In neighbouring Greece, a wildfire, possibly caused by vibrating electricity conductors and fanned by gale-force winds, has burned thousands of hectares of farmland near a popular holiday destination northwest of Athens.
The blaze appeared largely contained on Wednesday, but hundreds of firefighters remained in the area to prevent flare-ups as six helicopters doused scattered smoking spots.
The hot, dry summer is having a worrying impact on agriculture.
Britain's cereal harvest is on track to be the worst since comparable records began in 1984, according to an analysis published on Wednesday, as crops wither after one of the driest and hottest spring-summer periods on record.
(Reporting by Francois Murphy, Florion Goga, Krisztina Than, Veronica Altimari, Matteo Negri, Ivana Sekularac and Michael Hogan; Writing by Angeliki Koutantou and Keith Weir; Editing by Mark Potter, Alex Richardson and Ros Russell)
