'Hellishly hot' southern Europe bakes under heat wave
The Peninsula
Rome: The Italian health ministry placed 12 cities under the most severe heat warning Tuesday as a wave of hot air from Africa baked southern Europe a...
Rome: The Italian health ministry placed 12 cities under the most severe heat warning Tuesday as a wave of hot air from Africa baked southern Europe and sent temperatures over 40 degrees Celsius (104F), with the worst still to come.
Municipal authorities in several southern European and Balkan cities took measures to look after elderly people in particular as civil protection crews fielded calls for water-drooping aircraft such as Canadairs to douse wildfires that raged in southern Italy and North Macedonia.
"It’s hellishly hot," said Carmen Diaz, a tourist from Madrid who was trying to keep cool with a fan at lunchtime in Rome. "These fans help a little too, but it’s really hot.”
In Greece, municipalities made air conditioned spaces available to the public. Certain forms of outdoor work were banned, such as manual labor, deliveries and construction, during the hottest time of the day when temperatures reached 40 C.
Temperatures were expected to hit 42 C on Wednesday and Thursday in several countries. Spain’s national weather service said thermometers could reach 44 C in the southern Guadalquivir river basin in the coming days.