Spain, Portugal and Italy remain on high alert as Europe battles heat wave
A tourist drinks a beer sitting on the shore of Levante beach as a heat wave sweeps through Spain on July 16, 2022 in Benidorm, Spain. (Photo: Zowy Voeten/Getty Images)
The authorities of Spain, Portugal and Italy struggle to control the current heat wave, while this Monday the intense temperatures scorch areas of the entire European continent.
The President of the Spanish Government, Pedro Sánchez, said on Monday that he wanted to share the evidence that “climate change kills”, while visiting the region of Extremadura ravaged by forest fires in western Spain.
“I want to share the evidence and it is that climate change kills, it kills people as we have seen, it kills our ecosystem, our biodiversity,” Sánchez said.
“It also destroys our most valuable assets, societies are affected by these changes, their houses, their homes, their businesses, their livestock.”
Sánchez went on to say that so far this year more than 70,000 hectares have been destroyed as a result of the fires in our country.
Almost the entire country is facing extreme fire risk, with many regions now classified as having an “extreme” heat level, according to Spain’s national weather agency AEMET.
This Monday, Spain was facing the eighth of a heat wave of more than a week, which has caused more than 510 heat-related deaths, according to the latest figures from the Carlos III Health Institute.
Spain is also mourning the loss of firefighter Daniel Gullón Vara, who was working to extinguish a forest fire in the province of Zamora. During his visit to the area, Sánchez offered his condolences and said that Daniel represents those who “fight every day in the front line of fire.”
In Portugal, some 80 municipalities in 10 districts remain under the highest threat level for forest fires, especially in the northeast of the country, according to the Portuguese meteorological service, the Institute of the Sea and the Atmosphere (IPMA).
Nearly 1,000 firefighters, supported by some 300 vehicles and planes, are deployed across the country, battling five major forest fires, the Portuguese Civil Protection Authority said in its latest update. The largest of the fires is currently in Fundão, in the Castelo Branco district.
Temperatures in Portugal have cooled slightly following reaching record highs for the month of July last week. This Monday, temperatures were below 30ºC in most of the country.
Despite a brief respite, the IPMA forecasts that temperatures will rise once more from Wednesday, reaching around 40º C in some areas.
The regions of Italy most affected by the drought must ration water, since the country declared a state of emergency earlier this month.
In areas near the Po River valley, cities are cutting off water supplies at night and residents are being prevented from washing their cars and watering their gardens.
In the small town of Castenaso, near Bologna, a mayor’s order has banned hairdressers and barbers from washing their clients’ hair twice in a bid to save water before supplies run out.
In Milan, Italy’s financial center, the mayor has ordered all ornamental fountains to be turned off and has banned washing private vehicles or watering gardens and lawns.
And in Rome, free entrances to swimming pools are offered for those over 70 “to offer them a refreshment in the face of the high summer temperatures,” according to the Rome City Council.
