Image: (APA/AFP/LOISA GOULIAMAKI)
In the central Greek city of Larisa, the thermometer showed 44 degrees early Saturday afternoon. Two villages on the holiday island of Rhodes had to be evacuated. The smoke from a forest fire near the village of Laerma was too strong, as reported by state radio.
Tourists are not in danger, it said. In the north, too, there were values around 40 degrees in many places on Saturday. Even most of the Aegean islands have temperatures above 38 degrees. One of the leading Greek meteorologists, Konstantinos Lagouvardos, estimated on state television that “if things continue like this”, this heat wave could become the longest since measurements have been taken in Greece. In July 1987, a similar heat wave killed an estimated 1,300 people in Greece.
Danger still high
The fire brigade again warned of the great danger of forest fires. “We are facing even more difficult times,” said a spokesman on state television on Saturday. The danger remains extremely high, it said. The fires in the Athens area and on the Peloponnese peninsula have been brought under control. But these fires flare up again and again because everything has dried up, it was said.
Meanwhile, hundreds of firefighters from Romania, Bulgaria, Poland, Slovakia and Malta have arrived in Greece to reinforce the fire brigade and are battling the flames. France, Italy, Turkey, Cyprus, Israel and Jordan are taking part in the extinguishing work with firefighting planes and helicopters, the Greek civil defense said.
According to the meteorologists, the heat wave will continue with small fluctuations next week. A new high is expected on Wednesday with temperatures around 46 degrees in southern Greece.
Source: Nachrichten
