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https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/jul/24/greece-wildfires-corfu-evia-rhodes-heatwave-northern-hemisphere-extreme-weather-temperatures-europe>
"The battle to contain wildfires across Greece continued for a seventh straight
day as firefighters struggled to extinguish flames amid scenes of pandemonium
prompted by the nation’s biggest ever evacuation of tourists on
inferno-stricken Rhodes.
With the aid of water-dropping planes, authorities worked around the clock to
tame numerous fires. While the prime minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, said it was
clear the country was “at war with fire”, efforts were being concentrated on
dousing blazes raging on the islands of Evia and Corfu, in addition to Rhodes.
“This battle is uneven, and it will keep being like that for as long as the
conditions remain hard,” the centre-right leader told the Greek parliament.
Warning that “three difficult days” lay ahead with the prediction that
temperatures would rise, he added: “We find ourselves at war with fire.”
As wind-whipped infernos raged across soil parched by searing heat, authorities
also stepped up evacuations, ordering people to leave hotels and homes.
Overnight, an estimated 2,466 citizens had fled dwellings in 17 villages along
Corfu’s northern coast, an area popular with villa-owning Britons, while
hundreds had been forced to evacuate communities on Evia.
The latest evacuations came days after incoming infernos around resort areas in
the south-east of Rhodes forced what officials described as the biggest
evacuation in Greek history, which saw 19,000 people – mostly tourists – moved
to the island’s north across land and sea.
Holidaymakers recounted panic-stricken moments of being transported at the
weekend in the middle of the night in army trucks to beaches before being
placed on Greek navy ships.
A common refrain was the shoddy treatment received at the hands of “invisible”
tour operators to whom they had paid thousands of pounds to stay in five-star
hotels on the island.
Many voiced shock that other British tourists had been flown into the island by
travel companies as late as Saturday night when it was clear the fires were
raging uncontrollably across a large swath of the island.
Greece experienced the hottest temperatures in 50 years at the weekend, with
the mercury reaching 45C in the central region of Thessaly. The hot, dry, windy
conditions have been likened to “super food” for fires."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
