Wildfires, Heatwaves, and Blackouts Cause Havoc... Southern Europe's Summer Ailment

Southern Europe Endures Heatwave Over 45°C
20,000 Evacuated Due to Wildfires on Rodos Island
Thousands of Tourists Stranded at Airports
500,000 Suffer Power Outages in Sicily

This summer, unprecedented heatwaves exceeding 45 degrees Celsius have continued in Southern Europe, causing large-scale damage due to wildfires and power outages across Greece and Italy.

On the 24th (local time), major foreign media reported that a large wildfire broke out on the island of Rodos in Greece, forcing 20,000 people to evacuate urgently over the weekend.

On the 22nd, a wildfire spread on the Greek island of Rhodes, engulfing a hotel complex in flames with smoke rising. [Image source=AFP Yonhap News]

The island of Rodos is struggling with firefighting efforts as the worst heatwave coincided with the wildfire that started on the 18th. The fire on Rodos is known to be the largest among the recent wildfires that have swept across Greece.

Moreover, last weekend, temperatures in Greece soared up to 45 degrees Celsius, accelerating the spread of the wildfires. Dry weather caused by the heatwave combined with strong winds spread fires to the Peloponnese Peninsula and the island of Evia.

The wildfires led to flight cancellations, leaving thousands of tourists stranded at airports. Rodos is a representative travel destination in the Aegean Sea favored by British and German tourists, attracting about 2.5 million visitors annually. As tourists visiting Rodos for vacation found themselves unable to leave, the British government dispatched a support team to rescue its citizens. TUI, Europe's largest travel agency headquartered in Germany, arranged emergency flights, transporting tourists back to the UK on three aircraft.

As the heatwave damages power systems, the number of places experiencing blackouts is increasing. On the island of Sicily in southern Italy, temperatures rose to 47.6 degrees Celsius on the day, approaching the European record of 48.8 degrees set in August 2021. In eastern Sicily’s Catania, at least 500,000 people have experienced power outages since the 20th due to heatwave-related damage to electrical cables. Between 200,000 and 300,000 residents also faced temporary water shortages caused by the outages.

Experts predict that this heatwave will last at least two more weeks and that even more intense heat will come in the future. Giulio Betti, an Italian meteorologist, told the BBC, "The duration and intensity of prolonged heatwaves are increasing every year. Summers in Europe have become much hotter than before in recent years," adding, "There will be no summers without heatwaves going forward, and we will not see what used to be considered normal summers anymore."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.