The epicenter of Europe’s heat wave is shifting back to fire-ravaged Greece, as temperatures are set to hit 48C (118.4F) by Wednesday.
Firefighters on Rhodes, the Greek island from which thousands of tourists were evacuated over the past three days, are using jets and helicopters to prevent a blaze spreading toward the village of Gennadi. In Corfu, the village of Loutses has been evacuated, with coastguard vessels on standby.
Strong winds are hampering efforts to contain wildfires burning across the Mediterranean after the world’s hottest ever June was followed by record heat this month. Extreme weather is devastating southern Europe, from hailstorms and a tornado in Italy, to heavy rainfall and strong winds that left several dead in parts of western Balkans.
Fossil fuel emissions are driving global warming, which is increasing the intensity of summer heat waves across the Northern Hemisphere from Phoenix to Turpan in China. That extreme heat would have been “virtually impossible” without climate change, according to scientists. Still many leaders are pushing back against curbing greenhouse gas emissions at a faster pace.
In Italy, there’s little relief from combating the heat, even as it’s forecast to cool slightly in the coming days. A temperature of 48C was reported on Sardinia on Monday, just below the European high of 48.8C, set in Sicily two years ago.
In some areas, the heat has been punctuated by violent storms with destructive hail.
“The new reality is that we have to face very different emergencies at the same time,” Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said on local radio on Tuesday. “Not a single fireman has gone on holiday, we are doing our best to secure the territory.”
On Sicily, Palermo airport was closed in the early part of the morning due to a fire on the surrounding hills. A storm in Milan disrupted transport, while a Delta Air Lines Inc. flight from the city to New York was diverted on Monday to Rome after hail damaged the nose and wings of the plane.
Sicily reported widespread blackouts and water outages on Monday as demand for air-conditioning pushed power consumption to a record. Without basic services and unable to recharge her mobile phone, 92-year-old Rosina Di Marco felt cut off in the small town of Trecastagni.
“From my window I could see smokes and fires in the distance,” she said. “What we are experiencing reminds me of when I was in a shelter during the second world war.”
In Athens, ministers attended a cabinet meeting to discuss the crisis, with 125 wildfires in the past 24 hours.
“We are already experiencing the effects of the climate crisis and we know that things will probably get worse, not better, with higher temperatures, more drought, strong winds,” Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said. “We have a difficult summer ahead of us.”
A fire evacuation order was given early Tuesday for the village of Platanistos on the island of Evia, east of the capital, with another issued for Vati on Rhodes. There is a maximum alert for the island of Crete, and on Wednesday the highest wildfire risk will cover 11 areas, including the greater Attica region around Athens.
Across the Mediterranean in North Africa, the toll from the heat has been even higher. Wildfires killed more than 30 people in Algeria as temperatures in coastal cities hit 49C on Monday.
Similar heat levels are expected on Tuesday in Tunisia and Algeria. Fires are being worsened in the afternoon by sirocco winds that can reach hurricane speeds as they blow off the Sahara.
In sharp contrast, moderate conditions are spreading across Northern Europe as a cooler weather system moves in. Temperatures in the UK, Germany, France and Nordic countries will be below seasonal averages. Frankfurt will peak at 18.5C, 5.5C below the norm, according to forecaster Maxar Technologies Inc.
--With assistance from Flavia Rotondi, Chiara Albanese and Laura Millan.
Author: Eamon Akil Farhat, Paul Tugwell and Sonia Sirletti
