Regions across southwest Europe are experiencing a severe heat wave without any indication of decline. Countries including France, Greece, Portugal, and Spain are on the verge of setting new temperature records this week. Thousands of residents are compelled to drive to other locations as thousands of hectares of land have been demolished by the horrendous flames. According to the reports, this is the second heat wave in southwestern Europe in recent weeks and is causing major headaches. Moreover, the root cause of this underlying issue lies in the climate change conditions, as per the scientists, and reports are circulating that there will be some more heat spells and extreme weather conditions in the coming days.
Coupled with this, there are around 20 wildfires that are still causing destruction in Spain and have already ruined 4,500 hectares of land. Not only this, the immediate cause of concern is the high intensity of the fire that killed a lot of emergency personnel last week. In addition to that, a fireman also succumbed to injuries on late Sunday while trying to extinguish the fire in northwestern Spain. Along with this, the situation became out of control in France which has made around 16,000 people including the residents and tourists leave their homes and hotels and take shelter in the emergency camps set for them.
As per Francis Gourand, who is a meteorologist in France, “In some southwestern areas, it will be a heat apocalypse. We came back to admire the place, but we couldn’t leave because it was too hot outside. We say a prayer before the fire!” However, fortunately, the blaze in Spain has now been brought under control after destroying 2000 acres of land in the southern region of Andalusia. So far, the Spanish prime minister has expressed his “condolences and affection” to those who gave their lives while battling against the deadly fire. He said in a tweet, “There are no words to express thanks to those who fight fires without rest for their immense work. RIP. “
To that end, the wildfires in Portugal have smashed the record of stimulating the temperature by up to 47 degrees Celsius which has been taken as a record-breaking heat wave for the month of July. The numbers in Portugal have also alarmed the authorities, as two people were killed during the disaster and 60 were injured. Moreover, around 15,000 hectares of land were burnt to ashes. Considering the severity of the temperature, the MET office in the UK disseminated a “red warning” with caution for “risk to life” following the surpassing of temperatures of 40 degrees in southern England.
