As extreme wildfires continued to raging in parts of the south, eight people died and thousands were evacuated from their homes Europe.
The death happened TurkeyIn the past week, firefighters have fought fires in several coastal resort towns. Another 10 people were hospitalized. On Thursday, the Turkish Coast Guard evacuated hundreds of villagers living near a burning power plant in Mugla Province in the Aegean Sea.
exist ItalyIt is estimated that the number of large wildfires this summer has tripled compared to the annual average, causing millions of euros worth of damage to the environment and economy of the central and southern regions.
At the same time, the northern part of the country has been plagued by severe flooding and landslides in recent days, especially in Lombardy. Heavy rain caused Lake Como to burst its banks in the early hours of Thursday morning.
Fabrizio Coursio, head of the Italian Civil Defence Agency, said: “The north is flooded and rain is pouring, and there is a fire in the south-the country is divided into two.”
In Greece, Eleni Milivelli, appointed as an Athenian First Chief Thermal Officer In July, described the “end of the world” scene after houses and villages were burnt down Wildfires in the northeast of the Greek capital In the prolonged heat wave. The worst days of the fire were Tuesday and Wednesday, when the temperature reached 45 degrees Celsius.
“There was an incredible battle with the fire all day yesterday,” Myrivili told BBC Radio 4’s “Today” program on Thursday morning, adding that the fire seemed to be fading. “The sky is grey-red, and ashes fall on us. This is the end of the world. In [Tuesday] At night, smoke entered my house and I had to wear a mask to sleep because I could not breathe. “
She added that staying outdoors in extreme heat is very difficult. “You are out of breath, it is easy to feel dizzy, a kind of brain fog.”
The Acropolis is also closed to tourists. “This is a health issue,” Myrivili said. “We don’t want people to be exposed to sunlight and high temperatures for long periods of time in places without shadows. This is an extremely hot thing-it is a subtle, slow and invisible enemy.”
The fire is Greece It also briefly cut off the main road to Athens and caused a fire in Olympia, the birthplace of the Olympic Games. Citizen Protection Minister Michalis Chrisochoidis stated that firefighters launched an “overnight battle” to protect the archaeological site.
At the same time, the village was evacuated and 90 people were rescued by boat from the beach because another major fire destroyed the forest on the Greek island of Evia.
On Thursday night, Kyriakos Mitsotakis gave a special televised speech in which he warned that as wildfires north of Athens return to life, the westerly wind will strengthen and emergency services will face a difficult night . “Unfortunately, the worst has yet to come, and the coming night seems to be menacing,” the Greek Prime Minister said.
Since July 28, 180 fires in Turkey, And there were still more than 100 burning places in Greece on Wednesday night.
In Turkey, an AFP team reported that firefighters and police had fled the 35-year-old Kemerköy power plant in Mugla because a bright orange ball of flame tore through the surrounding hills.
Hundreds of villagers, many of them clutching small bags of items stolen from abandoned houses, rushed into the Coast Guard speedboat in nearby Olen Harbor when the evacuation call sounded.
Regional authorities stated that “all explosive chemicals” and other hazardous materials have been removed from the strategic location.
“However, the fire may spread to thousands of tons of coal inside,” regional mayor Osman Gürün told reporters.
Some older villagers in Ölen refused to leave the affected area, even though thousands of people were shuttled along the Aegean Sea by cars or boats.
“At our age, where do you want us to go?” the 79-year-old Hulusi Jinic asked.
“We live here. This is our home. Our final solution is to throw ourselves into the sea [if there was an explosion], But thank God, this did not happen. “
In Italy, most of the fires occurred in the southern regions, including Lazio, Campania, Puglia, Calabria, Basilicata, and especially Sicily, where the port city of Messina and the capital Palermo There are currently several fires.
Fires also broke out in central Tuscany, Umbria and Abruzzo, and holidaymakers had to evacuate on Sunday after wildfires destroyed the pine forest near the beach. Pescara.
The first major wildfire in Italy from July 24 to 26 destroyed 10,000 hectares (24,710 acres) of forest and forced 800 people evacuated from their homes in southwestern SardiniaThe farm was also destroyed and many animals died. “This is a catastrophic event,” said Roberto Cingolani, Italy’s Minister of Ecological Transformation. “For all these events, we need to reflect.”
Coldiretti, the main Italian farmer’s association, said that the number of wildfires in 2021 has tripled compared to the annual average from 2008 to 2020. “For the safety of the people and the economy, this is a real national emergency,” Cordiretti said in a statement.
Cingolani has arrested several people across Italy in recent days. Cingolani said that 57% of the fires were malicious and 13.7% were caused by negligence.
“More than 70% of fires in Italy are our responsibility,” he added. “Less than 2% are caused by nature, such as lightning strikes, 4.4% are unidentified, and 22% are unclassified. In these cases, it is difficult to know what caused the fire.”
Landslides and floods in northern Italy also affected the Upper Adige area, where landslides blocked the Brenner Pass near the Italian-Austrian border.
