The extreme heat retains its grip on Europe. The fires in France, Greece, Portugal and Spain have destroyed thousands of hectares of land, forced tens of thousands of people to evacuate and claimed several lives in recent days.
The situation in the Gironde region in southwestern France is deteriorating. The country’s Interior Ministry announces that three more fire planes and 200 firefighters will be deployed against the fires.
Seven emergency shelters have been organized to receive the 16,000 – residents and tourists – who have been evacuated from various fire areas.
“A heat apocalypse”
The French weather institute measured around 40 degrees in parts of southern France on Sunday. Even higher temperatures are expected on Monday.
“In some areas in the southwest, there will be a heat apocalypse,” meteorologist Francois Gourand told AFP.
Spanish authorities say about 20 fires around the country are still out of control.
But the Spanish firefighters have managed to tame a fire near Málaga in the southern parts of the country. The fire started in the Mijas mountains on Friday and forced around 3,000 people to evacuate. About 2,000 have been able to return home since the fire stabilized.
Red warning
Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez – who lamented the death of a firefighter in a Twitter post – will visit the severely fire-ravaged region of Extremadura on Monday.
The UK is also hit hard by the extreme heat and the country has issued a red warning for Monday and Tuesday. It happens for the first time and is done when it is considered life threatening.
Temperatures above 40 degrees are expected. Schools are therefore closed during the week.