It’s scorchio out there and the mercury is set to keep on rising.

So in-between hugging the fan and sticking your head in the fridge, here are some reminders of times skyscraper high temperatures caused mayhem in south Essex.

  • In July 2012 a heatwave caused misery on the rails with fed up south Essex commuters suffering dismal delays as the heat caused overhead cables to sag.

Echo: London 2012

To make matters worse this was just days before the start of the 2012 London Olympic Games and the heat was forcing trains from Southend to the Olympic Park in Stratford to be scrapped

  • In the summer of 2015 record numbers of patients swamped Basildon Hospital’s A&E department due to the heat. South Essex was basking in the highest temperatures since July 2006. Some 440 people hobbled into the A&E in one day alone- unprecedented numbers for the time.

The weather had been blistering and a heatwave reached fever pitch in July with patients needed treatment for everything from sunburn to gardening accidents, barbeque mishaps and tripping over in flip-flops.

  •  In August 1953 a freak whirlwind caused by high temperatures, hit Westcliff and sucked up beach-goers. Holidaymakers were ‘tossed around like ninepins’ and others were flung metres into the air while still sitting in their deckchairs.

Echo:

The mini twister lasted barely a minute but left many seaside-goers with cuts and bruises, with several taken to hospital.

Reports of the drama described how the gale- force winds caught a mother’s skirt and threw her and her baby into the sea while another woman was blown off of the sea wall and sent straight into a deck chair. Meanwhile heroic men had to climb on all fours to avoid the gusts in order to rescue stranded children.

That day it reached 81 degrees in Southend - the highest in the entire country and the hot weather, colliding with a stream of cooler weather was deemed the cause of the whirlwind.

  • In 1935 there were a number of mini heatwaves which caused a whole load of problems. In June of this year a day tripper to Southend from Stepney collapsed and died from heat exhaustion.

Echo:

Then when it came to carnival time, things really hit the fan. Throngs of 300,000 jovial revellers crammed into every inch of free space in Southend. But because of the intense heat so many people collapsed that fainted bodies had to be passed- crowd-surfing style- above the heads of others to reach ambulances.

That day more than 1,000 men, women and children collapsed in the heat. It got so bad that every available police officer from Southend and neighbouring forces was sent to Southend to help out.

  • In August 1932 it got so hot on the seafront at Southend – 86 degrees - that six people in one day collapsed and needed hospital treatment.