After weekend storms brought brief refreshment for those suffering from he heat, temperatures were again on the march towards their forecast apogee on Wednesday or Thursday.

Hotspots of more than 35 degrees (95 degrees Fahrenheit) Celsius were noted in southern Spain, southwest France and northwest Italy and a vast swathe of the continent from the east coast of France into Poland was expected to swelter in temperatures of 30-35 degrees.

Governments and medical services have moved up a gear in an effort to prevent deaths from the heat, which puts elderly citizens at particular risk.

The steamy conditions have also caused headaches for event organisers, farmers and electricity generators.

In Germany, temperatures were forecast to reach 39 degrees Celsius on Thursday in the southwest of the country and around the capital Berlin, possibly surpassing record levels reached in 2003, forecasters said.

In a move that would bring further misery for farmers, the German animal protection federation has called for animal transports to be stopped because of the heat, saying police had to rescue pigs who nearly died of thirst in a truck stuck in a traffic jam.

Farmers in Poland, France and the Netherlands have already warned that the heat is set to reduce their harvests this year.

Also in Germany, navigation on the river Elbe in the north of the country had to be reduced because of low water levels, and the temperature of the water led nuclear power generators along the banks of the river to cut output.

High water temperatures have also disrupted electricity production at nuclear power stations in France and Spain. Water is used as a cooling agent at the plants but the temperature of their discharged water must be within environmental norms.

"We are adjusting our output on a constant basis according to the temperature of the water," a spokesman for the Vattenfall electricity company in Germany said.

In Italy, a tornado ripped through the city of Turin in the northwest of the country, damaging about 50 cars and several houses.

Violent storms after days of stifling heat have been experienced across the continent. In Germany, a tornado struck in the southern region of Bavaria injuring seven people on Sunday.

In Britain, the heatwave that has already lasted 10 days in many parts of the country will produce higher temperatures mid-week before finally ending at the weekend, forecasters said.

The national Met (Meteorological) Office said London could see temperatures of 34 degrees Celsius on Wednesday, a few degrees short of the July record of 36.5 Celsius that was set last week.

In the Netherlands, the Fiets4daagse, an annual four-day cycling event due to start on Tuesday was cancelled. The organisers announced that the expected temperatures of over 30 degrees Celcius coupled with a high atmospheric humidity meant "the health risk for participants was too high".

Some 15,000 people, mostly couples over 55 and families, had signed up for the event.

Last week the annual four-day walk in the eastern Nijmegen region of the country, one of the biggest walking events in the world with over 44,000 participants, was cancelled after two walkers succumbed to the heat during the opening day.

The deathtoll from the heatwave has reached about 40 people over the past two weeks with three quarters in France.

Deaths from the heat are a politically sensitive issue in France after a heatwave in 2003 killed about 15,000 people and led to criticism of the government response to the crisis.

This year, ministers have taken to the airwaves to urge people to take care and Health Minister Xavier Bertrand has appealed for help from medical students and retired doctors to help reinforce stretched emergency health services.

Travellers in the Paris metro were urged on Tuesday to drink plenty of water and the Le Parisian newspaper devoted the first five pages of its Tuesday edition to tips and reports on the heat phenomenon.

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