Southern Europe’s intensifying heatwave continues to break weather-related records, bringing with it warnings of increased risks of wildfires, heart attacks and deaths due to the skyrocketing temperatures.
The mercury remained high in Italy on Wednesday, with temperatures on the Italian island of Sicily hitting almost 47 degrees Celsius.
A man and woman aged 69 were found dead in their homes in the Sicilian capital Palermo on Tuesday, with local newspapers attributing their deaths to the heat.
In total, Italy was forced to put 23 cities on red alert due to the extreme weather, with peaks of 45 and 46C on parts of the Mediterranean island of Sardinia.
That’s one day after the capital of Rome saw its highest ever reading, 41.8C, breaking the previous record of 40.7C set in June 2022.
The country’s health ministry said teams of mobile health workers were visiting the elderly in the city in a bid to counter heat-related health risks.
“These people are afraid they won’t make it, they are afraid they can’t go out,” said Claudio Consoli, a doctor and director of a health unit.
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Wildfires in Greece
In Greece, wildfires burned for a third day west of the capital of Athens, with another blaze breaking out on the tourist island of Rhodes, forcing locals to decide whether or not to flee.
Accelerated by erratic winds, the fires on the Greek mainland have destroyed dozens of homes, prompted hundreds of people to flee and brought thick smoke to the area.
Temperatures could climb to 43C on Thursday, forecasters said.
“I am not leaving. I started building this house when I was 27 years old by myself,” said Dimitris Michaelous, a long-term resident in the fire-threatened town of Pournari, north of Athens.
Local firefighters said Romania, Slovakia and Poland were set to send some 230 firefighters to help it tackle the blazes, as the government called on people to be extremely careful to not spark new fires.
Spain also warned of the risk of wildfires in most of the country, though residents were allowed to return to their homes in La Palma island where a blaze that raged for five days was stabilized in one sector, although it remained active elsewhere.
