Heatwave strikes US ahead of Fourth of July

Americans in the Midwest are experiencing rising temperatures ahead of the Fourth of July celebrations.

New York's Mayor is declaring a heat emergency, cautioning the public about the upcoming, "dangerously high" temperatures.

In Georgia and Mississippi, splash pools and cooling centres are bringing relief to people and pups.

This as Europeans continue to endure extreme heat. France is bracing for the next heatwave, with hospitals securing ice machines to make ice bath to plunge overheated patients.

Millions of people in the US Midwest and Great Lakes states suffer as heat and humidity rise in the regions with no immediate relief in sight until the heat dome shifts east.

The National Weather Service says conditions are "dangerous" as the heat index exceeds 40 degrees Celsius in some areas.

It warns of risks for heat-related illnesses, especially among people without air conditioning.

Detroit, Michigan, as well as Illinois, Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky and much of Iowa, are under extreme heat warnings.

The Northeast, including New York City and Boston, will soon feel major heat through the Fourth of July holiday.

Norristown, Pennsylvania, 32 kilometres from Philadelphia, cancelled a Saturday parade because of the weather.

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani warns the city will enter a heat emergency as the holiday weekend approaches.

Hundreds of locations including schools, community centres and libraries will be used as cooling centres across five boroughs, he says.

Homeless shelters are open throughout the hottest hours of the day in Georgia to provide shade and water, as heat and humidity together are expected to drive temperatures as high as 42 degrees over the next few days.

In Jackson, Mississippi, employees at an animal shelter without air conditioning is working through oppressive heat to keep animals cool and hydrated.

As temperatures inside the former warehouse spikes to more than 38 degrees, dogs are chilling in kiddie pools.

Meanwhile, the heat is still on high in Europe, where Serbia and Romania have become the latest counties to beat their national heat records, as the red weather warning firmly takes its grip, sending temperatures beyond 40 degrees.

Recording more than 1,000 heat-related death in June, France is preparing its hospitals in anticipation of another surge.

At a Paris hospital, emergency medics had to plunge patients into cold-water baths to quickly cool their overheated bodies.

Without an ice machine on site, they headed to a nearby fast food restaurant for help.

The hospital has ordered an ice maker to cope what the hot summer months ahead.