A severe heatwave has shattered temperature records across central and eastern Europe, with Slovakia recording a new national high of 42°C (108°F) in the village of Dolné Plachtince. In Poland, authorities were forced to shut down two major coal-fired power plants — Kozienice and Połaniec — after critically low water levels in the Vistula River disrupted cooling water supplies, removing around 1.3 gigawatts of capacity from the national grid. The crisis underscores a deepening contradiction flagged by environmental experts: the fossil fuel infrastructure driving climate change is increasingly being disabled by its own consequences, prompting renewed calls across Europe for faster investment in wind and solar energy.