Thousands of firefighters are battling flames in Portugal, Spain, and southwestern France in Europe where a heatwave is raging.
A pilot perished in northern Portugal. His waterbombing jet crashed near the Spanish border in the Foz Coa region.
Fires are raging in France’s Gironde region. It has forced the evacuation of almost 12,000 people.
A wildfire in the Mijas hills prompted many to flee
Around 2,300 people forced to evacuate a wildfire in the Mijas hills in southern Spain an entire Europe. It is near the Costa del Sol.
Visitors to Torremolinos’ beach noticed large plumes of smoke coming from the hills. Many planes were battling the wildfire.
Meanwhile, one local called the forest fires along France’s south-west Atlantic coast “post- apocalyptic. ” “I’ve never seen anything like this before,” Karyn, who lives near Teste-de-Buch, told AFP.
The flames are being fought by around 3,000 firefighters
The fires there, as well as another just south of Bordeaux, have destroyed roughly 10,000 hectares (25,000 acres). Approximately 3,000 firefighters are battling the fires.
Temperatures in Portugal have reached 47 degrees Celsius. Over 40 degrees Celsius in Spain since Tuesday. It left the countryside parched and fueling the flames. According to Europe’s Efe news agency, more than 300 people have perished as a result of the heat in both nations.
The Portuguese pilot was flying solo in a Fire Boss amphibious plane when he perished.
Portugal’s fire hotspots are located to the north and east of Porto. This year, flames have devastated 30,000 hectares (75,000 acres) of land. The most since the summer of 2017, when Portugal had terrible fires that killed 100 people.
Other sections of the Mediterranean are also being affected. The government of Italy has declared a state of emergency in the dry Po Valley, where the country’s longest river is reduced of a trickle in some areas.
In Greece, firemen are battling fires at Feriza, about 50 kilometers (31 miles) south-east of Athens, and near Rethymno, on Crete’s north shore. Seven communities in the vicinity of Rethymno have been evacuated.
Germany is gearing up
Meanwhile, temperatures in southwestern Germany are expected to reach 34° C on Wednesday.
However, the Deutscher Wetterdienst (DWD), Germany’s National Meteorological Service, predicts even higher temperatures for next week.
Heat waves and extreme weather have grown increasingly common in the twenty-first century as a result of climate change. Due to which Germany has been experiencing devastating floods just a year ago.
France has issued an orange weather warning
Several communities in northern Morocco had to be evacuated as flames raged through the provinces of Larache, Ouezzane, Taza, and Tetouan. In the Ksar El Kebir region, one village was completely destroyeand at least one person was killed in a fire.
France has also seen scorching temperatures of over 40 degrees Celsius, with 16 departments on orange alert for extreme weather.
Research conducted by an international group of climate scientists from the World Weather Attribution says global warming made July 2021 rainfall between 3% and 19% greater and 1.2 to nine times more frequent.
