Greece : Extreme heat and wildfires continued to plague parts of southern Europe on Wednesday, a day after the top temperature in Greece reached 47.1 degrees Celsius (117 degrees Fahrenheit) — just shy of the highest ever recorded in Europe.
Greece is facing one of its worst heatwaves in decades and the country remains on high alert as it continues to battle blazes across the country.
Heat warnings have also been issued for Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Italy, Romania, Serbia and Turkey. Deadly wildfires have swept across parts of Turkey in recent days and forced the evacuation of tourist resorts.
Residents of the Greek capital, Athens, have been warned to stay indoors with their windows closed because of poor air quality after a wildfire raged Tuesday in the suburbs north of the capital. The extreme heat forced the Ministry of Culture to close the Acropolis and other ancient sites from noon to 5 p.m. local this week.
The Greek Fire Service said Wednesday it had been called to intervene in 78 forest fires in the past 24 hours. A fire on the large island of Evia, northeast of Athens, was burning strongly on Wednesday.
Wildfires also continued to burn Tuesday in parts of Turkey, fueled by the extreme heat. At least eight people had died as a result of the fires in Mugla and Antalya provinces as of Tuesday, Turkey’s state-run Anadolu news agency reported.
The region’s heatwave comes on the heels of devastating wildfires last week in Spain, Greece and the Italian island of Sardinia and less than a month after catastrophic flooding in northern Europe claimed more than 200 lives.
CNN
