Greece battles wildfires amid hottest July in 50 years as heatwave sweeps through Europe, US
livemint.comGreece on Saturday faced its hottest July weekend in 50 years, with temperatures forecast to soar above 40 Celsius (104 Fahrenheit), while a record-breaking heat wave stretching across the southern United States was expected to expand in the coming days. Over the past 24 hours, 162 fires have been reported across Greece amid high winds and extreme heat. The Greek Coast Guard, which led efforts to rescue tourists and locals from Rhodes, also helped evacuate 59 people from a beach in northern Corfu last night as another blaze threatened.
Tourists are scrambling to get out of Rhodes altogether, with some sheltering in schools and hotel conference spaces, and airlines struggling to arrange enough return flights. Flight cancellations left tourists stranded on the Greek island of Rhodes as the European Commission, the UK, France and Italy helped assist in the firefighting and rescue efforts. Eight jets and 10 helicopters are supported efforts to quell the fire on Rhodes.
The Greek civil protection ministry said the evacuation was the largest in the country’s history caused by a wildfire. Temperatures in parts of Greece are expected to climb back up to 46C on Tuesday. Extreme weather is devastating southern Europe this summer, from hailstorms and a tornado in Italy, to heavy rainfall and strong winds that left several dead in parts of western Balkans.
A record temperature of 50C is forecast for the south of the Italian island of Sardinia on Monday, which would eclipse the European high of 48.8C, set in Sicily two years ago. Following the hottest ever June, temperature records are being broken from the US to China. Climate change, triggered by fossil fuel emissions, is raising the intensity and duration of summer heat waves
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