Wildfires are raging across Greece after about 19,000 people were evacuated from the island of Rhodes over the weekend, while record temperatures are forecast for Sardinia.
Over the past 24 hours, 162 fires were reported across Greece amid high winds and extreme heat. Another 2,466 tourists and residents were evacuated in northern Corfu last night, including 59 rescued from a beach by the coast guard. As forest fires threaten the villages of Gennadi and Vati, a further evacuation order was issued for parts of Rhodes on Monday.
“We are at war,” Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis told lawmakers in parliament on Monday. “The climate crisis is already here.”
Extreme weather is devastating southern Europe this summer, from hailstorms and a tornado in Italy, to heavy rainfall and strong winds that left several dead in parts of the Balkans. A record temperature of 50C is forecast for the Italian island of Sardinia on Monday, which would eclipse the European high of 48.8C, set in Sicily two years ago.
Despite the hottest ever June, followed by a raft of record temperatures from the US to China, Group of 20 energy ministers failed to find consensus on the phase-down of fossil fuels at a meeting in India. Global warming, triggered by greenhouse gas emissions, is increasing the intensity and duration of summer heat waves across the Northern Hemisphere, raising questions over whether swathes of the planet are becoming uninhabitable.
Read More: G20 Ministers Fail to Reach Consensus on Fossil Fuels, Russia
Almost 1,500 people have been repatriated from Rhodes, mainly to the UK, Germany and Italy. That’s helped reduce the number of people needing temporary accommodation, after flight cancellations left tourists stranded on the Greek island when fire threatened hotels and homes at the weekend.
The European Commission, the UK, France and Italy are assisting in the firefighting and rescue efforts. Eight jets and 10 helicopters are supporting efforts to quell the fire on Rhodes.
EasyJet Plc is providing two repatriation flights on Monday from Rhodes. Leisure carrier Jet2 Plc also said it would send the empty planes to the area to bring customers back to the UK.
TUI AG scrapped flights to Rhodes through July 25 and said it was sending in additional support staff for customers on the island. Ryanair Holdings Plc is allowing customers to book on earlier flights out of Rhodes free of charge.
Rhodes is particularly popular with British visitors, who accounted for nearly a quarter of all international air arrivals in June, according to data from Rhodes Airport. Germans and Poles were the second and third-largest groups to arrive by air last month.
The Greek civil protection ministry said the Rhodes evacuation was the largest in the country’s history caused by a wildfire.
The crisis has left Greece facing a dilemma, as many of its islands are dependent on visitors, especially during the summer. Tourism Minister Olga Kefalogianni told BBC Radio 4’s Today program that people should continue to fly to both Corfu and Rhodes.
Greece isn’t the only country troubled by wildfires, with parts of the south of France facing a very high risk on Tuesday, according to the national weather forecaster.
Cooler weather is set to continue in Northern Europe with temperatures in the UK, Germany, France and Nordic countries below seasonal averages. London will peak at 18C, 5C below seasonal averages according to forecaster Maxar Technologies Inc.
--With assistance from Kate Duffy.
(Updates with latest on evacuations in Rhodes and Corfu starting in second paragraph)
