Wildfires ravaged parts of Spain, France and Portugal Friday in the blistering heat, burning forests and prompting widespread evacuations. The ongoing heatwave has already claimed hundreds of lives in the west European countries. There is a spike in heat wave-related casualties in Western Europe.
About 14,000 people have been forced to flee France’s south-western Gironde region due to dozens of wildfires that have spread across Portugal and Spain. The fires have been attributed to soaring temperatures not seen since 1757 across Europe.
In June, 829 estimated excess deaths were recorded in Spain due to the heat, the health ministry said.
More than 25,000 acres (10,000 hectares) of land were on fire in the Gironde region just south of Bordeaux on Saturday, an increase from the 18,000 acres of land that were on fire on Friday.
Temperatures were expected to exceed 40C in Portugal, where five districts were on a red extreme heat alert and more than 1,000 firefighters confronted 17 wildfires.
The UK’s Met Office sounded the alarm on Friday morning, raising its Heat Health Alert level to red, indicating that the forecast constitutes a national emergency.
The Met Office has forecasted temperatures in England to reach 40 degrees Celsius on Monday and Tuesday, a record for the UK.
17/07/2022
read more