In the last week, 238 people have died due to record heat in Portugal.
According to the Ministry of Health, most of the victims were elderly people with underlying illnesses who were particularly vulnerable to the scorching sun.
On Thursday (July record), temperatures in the city of Pinao approached 50°C, and red alerts were issued in five zones on Friday.
In the last 10 days, fires have broken out in Portugal and neighboring Spain, France and Croatia, prompting the evacuation of thousands of residents and tourists.
In Portugal, supported by strong winds, more than 3,000 firefighters battled the flames.
This year alone, forest fires have destroyed some 30,000 hectares of land.
Meanwhile, a plane fighting a forest fire in the Bragansa area crashed on Friday, killing a pilot, the Civil Defense Ministry said.
This was the first confirmed death in a fire that injured more than 160 people in Portugal this week.
When crossing the border, Spain has also seen a rise in temperature-related deaths.
According to the Carlos III Institute, which records temperature-related deaths daily, 237 people died from high temperatures between July 10 and 14.
This compares to 25 last week.
The county also struggled to extinguish some fires, including two that burned about 7,400 acres.
Some 3,000 people have been evacuated from towns in southern Andalusia.
Approximately 200 firefighters with the support of 18 planes have extinguished the fire, the cause of which is being investigated by the authorities.
Jema Suarez, a Spanish farmer evacuated from Casas de Miravete, told Reuters through tears. We didn’t sleep all night.
“A social worker came to see my uncle. We spent the night on the Marina road but never slept. I had never seen such a big fire.
Some 14,000 people were evacuated yesterday from the Gironde region of France.
“The fire will continue until it stabilizes,” Gironde deputy prime minister Langon Vincent Ferrer told a news conference.
Wildfires have also been reported this week in Croatia and Hungary, with concerns that dry weather could devastate more parts of Europe.
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Source: Metro
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