Europe stunned by the heat wave. The heat wave hitting France continues to spread in the south of the continent. Spain, which is also experiencing scorching temperatures, is battling virulent fires across the country. The most devastating fire forced the authorities to evacuate 14 villages, regrouping several hundred inhabitants, in the Sierra de la Culebra, a mountain range in the region of Castile and León, near the border with Portugal.
According to the regional authorities, some of them were able to return to their homes on Saturday morning, the flames having moved away from their homes. In total, nearly 20,000 hectares burned in this giant fire. However, the fire remains “active”, underlined the government of Castile and León, referring to “unfavorable” weather, with a dry wind and high temperatures.
Thousands of hectares of land burned
Firefighters were continuing to battle other blazes in Caudiel, in the Valencia region, in the southeast, or in Artesa de Segre, in Catalonia, in the northeast of the country, where a fire that has been going on since Wednesday has already ravaged 1,600 hectares of land. The series of fires comes as Spain faces an extreme and unusual heat wave for this time of year, believed by scientists to be a consequence of global warming.
The heat wave did not spare Germany either, where temperatures of up to 40 degrees could be felt on Saturday, while a few fires have already broken out. In Brandenburg, the region around Berlin, the fire started on Friday and spread in the evening over around 60 hectares. Another fire in the Trecktal valley, southwest of Berlin, threatens to flare up again due to drought and high ground temperatures. Some 6.5 hectares of forest burned.
Water rationing in Italy
Finally, in northern Italy, water is already rationed in some towns in Lombardy. The Po plain, which crosses the north of the country and is home to important agricultural crops, is facing its worst drought in 70 years. Some areas have not received rainfall for more than 110 days, according to the Po River Observatory, the peninsula’s largest water reservoir.
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Faced with the intensity of this wave, the United Nations (UN) called on Friday to “act now” against drought and desertification in order to avoid “human disasters”. “It is time to act: every action counts,” said the Executive Secretary of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), Ibrahim Thiaw.