The heat wave that has hit southern Europe for almost a week has already left more than 1,000 dead in Portugal and Spain alone, in addition to a series of forest fires, which are spreading across the continent.
Data from the Directorate-General for Health of Portugal compiled on Saturday night (16) pointed to the death of 659 people amid the heat wave in the previous seven days, most of them elderly. The peak of deaths occurred on Thursday (14), according to the agency, when temperatures exceeded 40ºC in most of the country – with a record of 47ºC in the district of Viseu, 300 km north of Lisbon.
On the same day, the Carlos 3º Health Institute in Spain reported 360 heat-related deaths in the country. This Sunday (17), Spanish authorities were fighting 20 fires still active and out of control in different parts of the country. In Galicia, in the northwest region, the fire destroyed about 4,500 hectares during the week.
In Malaga, in the south, firefighters managed to stabilize a fire in the Mijas mountain range that destroyed at least 2,000 hectares. The flames forced about 3,000 people out of their homes, but most of them have now managed to return. Britons William and Ellen McCurdy sought shelter at a sports center on Saturday as the fire approached. “It was very fast, I didn’t take it too seriously. I thought they had it under control and I was quite surprised when the fire seemed to be moving towards us,” said William, 68.
Spain’s meteorological agency issued warnings for maximum temperatures of 42ºC on Sunday in the northern regions of Aragon, Navarra and La Rioja. According to the entity, the extreme heat wave should end this Monday (18), but temperatures will remain “abnormally high”.
In Portugal, around 1,000 firefighters were trying to control 13 forest and rural fires in the center and north of the country, the largest of them near the city of Chaves. Almost all of the territory had a “maximum”, “very high”, or “high” risk of fires on Sunday. In the last week, the fire destroyed between 12,000 and 15,000 hectares, according to official calculations.
In France, the situation is critical. In the southwest of the country, firefighters continue to fight two fires that have already devastated around 11,000 hectares since Tuesday (12) in the Bordeaux region, an area equivalent to the city of Paris, engineer Guillaume Rozier told AFP.
According to the meteorological agency Météo-France, temperatures can reach 40ºC in this area. On Sunday, 51 departments were on orange alert, and 15 on red alert, the highest, due to rising thermometers. “The heat is rising, the heat wave is spreading across the country,” the agency warned.
The authorities predict that Monday (18) will be the hottest day in the west of the country, with temperatures that can exceed 40ºC in the regions of Brittany, Lower Normandy, Aquitaine and western Occitania.
Temperatures also remain high in the UK, where authorities have declared the first national extreme heat emergency. In the south of England, temperatures can exceed 40°C for the first time on Monday or Tuesday (19). ​Train passengers have been advised to travel only if absolutely necessary and there may be widespread delays and cancellations.
In the face of the heat wave, Dominic Raab, deputy to Prime Minister Boris Johnson, urged that some “common sense advice” be respected. “Stay hydrated, stay out of the sun in the hottest hours and put on sunscreen, that sort of thing,” he told Sky News. At the same time, he said that it is necessary to “enjoy the sun”, that the country is resistant enough to withstand the heat and that there is no reason to close schools.
The statements were criticized by health professionals and meteorologists. “It’s not a nice sunny day where you can put on sunscreen, go swimming, or eat out,” said Tracy Nicholls, executive director of the College of Paramedics. “It’s a severe heat that can actually kill you because it’s too strong,” she added. “We’re not prepared for that kind of heat in this country,” she insisted.
In Italy, where smaller fires have occurred in recent days, forecasters expect temperatures above 40°C in several regions in the coming days.
