The hottest summer in Europe since 1540, The European Heat Wave of the summer of 2003 hit France the hardest causing health crisis in several countries, and a shortfall on crops. There was a death toll of 70, 000. It caused forest fires in Portugal, deaths in the Netherlands, Spain, Italy, Germany, and United Kingdom, reaching up to 45 degrees Celsius. Glaciers in the Alps melted causing flash floods in Switzerland.