Europe is grappling with extreme weather conditions from high temperatures in southern Italy to powerful storms in Croatia and Italy, piling pressure on emergency services and residents, and causing discomfort for tourists looking for a little summer break.
Temperatures topped 40 degrees Celsius this week in southern and eastern European countries, and for some areas, such as Sicily, the hot weather continues. The Italian island hit 46 degrees Celsius on Saturday, according to the Met Office, with overnight temperatures of 29 degrees not offering much comfort, Politico wrote.
Heatwaves in parts of Greece also pushed the mercury into the 40s on Saturday. The island of Kefalonia and the west coast of the mainland continue to bake under the hot sun.
On the island of Rhodes, firefighters continued their battle to contain forest fires, local media reported. Thousands of people were evacuated from homes and hotels after fires engulfed large parts of the island, and the Greek fire service warned that the situation could worsen because of the weather, the BBC reported. Over 30,000 people have been evacuated by land and sea.
In Malta, residents were forced to sleep outside and in cars with air conditioning running after a sixth day without power, leaving people without fans or cooling systems. Residents described the situation as a “summer of hell”, the Times of Malta reported.
The European Commission’s Emergency Response Coordination Center (ERCC) said on Saturday that high temperature codes remained in place over southern Italy, southwestern Croatia and western Serbia.
Climate change
Europe is not alone. This year saw both the hottest June on record globally and the hottest day on record on July 6. The global average temperature was 17.08 degrees Celsius that day, according to the EU’s Copernicus climate monitoring service.
“People are 100 percent behind the upward trend,” said climatologist Friederike Otto of Imperial College London. These increasingly warmer global average temperatures are exactly what predictions show will happen in a world with rising levels of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide, she added to the BBC.
Health professionals are urging people to take measures to avoid overheating, such as staying in cool places during peak times of the day, drinking plenty of water and checking on vulnerable neighbors.
“The climate crisis is now one of the main factors determining human health outcomes,” a spokesperson for the European Commission’s health directorate DG SANTE told POLITICO, adding that “heat waves can cause significant health stress.”
The most at risk are the elderly, people with chronic diseases such as cardiovascular disease and people who work outdoors, such as in construction, agriculture. DG SANTE urged people to follow World Health Organization guidelines during heatwaves.
Some vacationers are already changing their summer habits to avoid the heat. Mediterranean destinations have seen a 10% drop in visitors seeking to travel there compared to last year, according to the European Travel Commission.
Meanwhile, destinations such as the Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Ireland and Denmark are experiencing a surge in popularity.
“This may be due to the fact that tourists are looking for less crowded destinations and milder temperatures,” ETC said.
Deadly storms
Along with the high heat, other extreme weather events hit Europe.
Just days after parts of Croatia received a heat code red and the country faced one of the worst storms in recent history, strong winds and heavy rains lashed much of the country, killing four people and damaging critical infrastructure and homes in 14 counties. More than 100 people were injured and 2,000 buildings were damaged in the country, ERCC said.
The Croatian government is facing calls to answer why early warning text messages were not issued through SRUUK – the country’s early warning and crisis management system – to warn people of the impending storm.
While Damir Trut, director of the Civil Protection Directorate, said the warnings were not issued because it was only a code orange, the State Hydrometeorological Association (DHMZ) denied this, saying the warning was raised to the highest red alert after 3pm. on July 19, Total Croatia reported. Interior Minister Davor Božinović told Index that the system is not working properly.
Parts of northern Italy also faced torrential rain, hail the size of tennis balls and flash flooding. Thunderstorms caused electrical damage and caused a house fire, Repubblica reported, while strong winds uprooted trees and brought down roofs.
The storms began on Thursday evening and are forecast to continue until Saturday, with an orange alert issued by the functional risk monitoring center of the Lombardy region.
Elsewhere, strong storms also killed one person in the town of Bled, Slovenia, where at least three people were also seriously injured. More than 300 people were evacuated and 1,000 buildings were damaged.
Another person died in Bosnia, and over 20 people were injured. And in Serbia, 20 people have been evacuated, according to the ERCC.
The center also issued a flood warning on Slovenia’s Pesnica River, in Gotsova, in the north-east of the country.
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2023-07-23 15:25:00
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