In both Turkey, Greece, and several other countries in southeastern Europe, what is being described as the worst heat wave in decades has led to deadly forest fires and driven people to flee their homes.
In Turkey, fires are raging for the seventh day in a row at temperatures well above 40 degrees, and throughout the week it is expected that the heat can increase even more.
Several holiday paradises swallowed by flames
Left the home
In the city of Manavgat, part of the Mediterranean region in Turkey, Norwegian Ine Bozdağ (26) has in recent days lived with an imminent fear that the fires that threaten nearby will take over the city she has called her home for the past four years. The air is full of smoke, she says.
– Just a few minutes after I read about the first fire, I could see smoke appear from several places in the opposite direction. It was almost 1 kilometer from our apartment. My husband and I chose to unpack valuables and leave our home for a few days, as the building we live in is surrounded by forest, Bozdağ tells Dagbladet.
The case was first mentioned by Østlendingen.
FLIGHTS: On Sunday, residents had to flee the village of Sirtkoy outside Manavgat in the Antalya province of Turkey, as forest fires quickly spread. Photo: AP / NTB
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– Unreal situation
On Tuesday, she describes that the situation has calmed down somewhat, but that there are regular updates about new fires in the mountain areas around the city.
– The population is worried that something will flare up, so every day local guards sit in the forest areas around Manavgat. It will take a long time before we feel safe again, she says.
Tourists are rescued from forest fires in Turkey
The forest fires in Turkey have claimed at least eight lives and led to more than 50 people being hospitalized, writes Sky News. Thousands of sheep and cows have died, and several farmers have seen their animals burned alive, reports NTB.
– It has been and still is a completely unreal situation, where lives have been lost and more people have lost their homes and livelihoods. We go with a constant restlessness in the body and fear that something will start again at any time, says Bozdağ, who grew up on Elverum in the Inland.
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On Tuesday, it was measured 44 degrees in the shade, she says.
– The winds around us have begun to calm down, but there are still strong winds in the other exposed areas, such as Bodrum.
May get hotter
The heat wave, which is also referred to as a “heat dome”, is due to a stagnant high pressure that acts as a lid over the hot air, the Meteorological Institute explains on Twitter.
Meteorologist Pernille Borander at the Meteorological Institute told Dagbladet earlier on Tuesday that it is expected that temperatures in both Greece, Italy and Turkey could reach a stifling 47 degrees.
HUGE DESTRUCTIONS: Houses in the village of Semir near the city of Manavat in the Antalya region were extinguished by the flames. Photo: AP / NTB
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Also in Greece, the extreme heat has led to major forest fires in recent days. On Wednesday, a major fire threatens north of the capital Athens, and already more than 80 houses have been destroyed, writes NTB. Thick smoke billows over the capital.
On Wednesday, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis described the fire as a nightmare.
– We hope to get the fire under control today before the wind picks up again.
Also on the Greek island of Rhodes, several areas have been evacuated in recent days.
In the inner parts of Greece and on the Peleponnes peninsula, it is expected that temperatures will crawl up to 46 degrees and stay there until Friday, reports NTB.
Fires have also broken out in southern Italy in recent days. On Tuesday, firefighters in regions such as Calabira, Sicily, Basilicata and Puglia continued to fight the flames. Fabrizio Curcio, Italy’s top security official, described the situation as “dramatic”, according to the news agency AP.
Earlier this summer, Canada and the United States also experienced being paralyzed by a “hot dome”, and even there the extreme heat led to extensive forest fires, destruction and deaths.
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