The UK Is Getting Hit by Heat, Fires, and Water Shortages All at Once — Here's What's Happening

The UK prime minister will lead an emergency government meeting on Wednesday 12 August 2026. The reason: extreme heat, wildfires, and water shortages are all hitting England and Wales at the same time. Temperatures of 33C are expected on Wednesday and could reach 38C on Thursday, according to the Met Office, the UK's national weather service.

The meeting is called a Cobra meeting. Cobra is a special committee that brings together top government officials when a crisis needs coordinated action across many departments. This is the second Cobra meeting on heatwaves this year — there was one in June during an earlier hot spell. Officials from the environment department, the Home Office, the health department, and the Environment Agency will all attend. A Downing Street spokesperson said the government understood that firefighters, farmers, and NHS staff were all facing challenges connected to the weather.

The Met Office has said the UK is on course for its hottest summer on record. Parts of the country are now going through their fifth heatwave of the season. Amber "extreme heat" warnings have been issued for London, parts of the south-east, East Midlands, east of England, West Midlands, and South Yorkshire. These warnings run from 9am to midnight on Thursday. Met Office chief forecaster Chris Bulmer said high pressure is building and temperatures will rise day-by-day, with winds pulling in hot air from Europe.

Firefighters have responded to 966 wildfires across England and Wales so far this year, including 185 in the first ten days of August, according to the National Fire Chiefs Council. July was the busiest month on record for wildfires, with 458 incidents. On Tuesday, Fire Brigades Union general secretary Steve Wright warned the country faces a "national emergency" because of the wildfires.

Water shortages are getting worse at the same time. The Environment Agency reports that 71.3% of England is now in a "flash drought" — meaning the land dried out very quickly because of almost no rain combined with high heat. Nearly three-quarters of England and the whole of Wales are in drought after a record dry July and a very dry start to August. A group called the National Drought Group had already stepped up its response after the UK's third heatwave of 2026 in July.

Southern Water, a company that supplies water to parts of southern England, has applied for a special order that would ban businesses from using water for non-essential purposes, such as cleaning cars and filling swimming pools. The company said an "exceptional" lack of rain is threatening supplies in Hampshire and the Isle of Wight, and warned that 165,000 people in the Southampton West area could face restricted supplies. Environment secretary Angela Eagle will decide on the application. If approved, it would be the first such ban since May 2006.

The government has advised the public to pay attention to heat alerts from the UK Health Security Agency, drink plenty of fluids, and check in on family, friends, and neighbours who are at high risk. The Met Office's heatwave alert system includes a "Level 4" warning, which means illness and death may occur even among people who are fit and healthy, not just those in high-risk groups. For comparison, the 2003 European heatwave caused around 35,000 premature deaths across northern Europe, including about 2,000 in the UK.

The reason the Cobra meeting matters is that all of these problems are happening at once. Firefighters are battling wildfires, water companies are dealing with drought, and the NHS is facing heat-related health emergencies — all while hospitals are already under summer pressure. The emergency committee is where these different departments have to figure out how to share resources and coordinate their responses.

The broader context here is that these events are becoming more frequent. Two Cobra meetings on heat in a single year, five heatwaves in parts of the country, and a wildfire season that already broke records in July suggest the UK's emergency planning is being tested by conditions that would have been unusual a decade ago. If Southern Water's drought order is approved, it would be only the second such ban in twenty years — and the decision rests with the environment secretary as temperatures continue to climb toward Thursday's forecast peak.