Multiple fires are underway in Greece, ravaged by a historic heatwave. Five helicopters and 173 firefighters are deployed on Rhodes to fight the blaze. Tourists had to be evacuated.
About 2,000 people were evacuated by boat from the Greek island of Rhodes, which has been ravaged by a forest fire for the past five days. Greece is “probably” experiencing the longest heatwave in its history, a phenomenon also affecting the southern United States, where temperatures continue to rise.
In Greece, where all archaeological sites such as the famous Acropolis in Athens remain closed during the hottest hours, temperatures are expected to soar above 44°C throughout the weekend.
accommodated 30,000 people
In Rhodes, a very touristy area in the east of the island around Laermon and Lardos, where a forest fire has been out of control for five days, about 2,000 people have been evacuated by boat and about 30,000 others have been housed overnight in gyms, schools or conference centers. “It is an unprecedented situation,” said Panagiotis Dimelis, chairman of Archangelos Village Council, on Skai TV.
In the evening, a spokesman for the fire brigade, Yannis Artopios, told ERT television that the new evacuation orders were aimed at the seaside resorts of Gennadi and Kiotari. A boat owner explained on Skai TV that he was “ordered by the port authorities to return to Gennady for further evacuations. There are many people on the beach, more than 500 people”.
When the alarm was raised in the early afternoon, many tourists with suitcases and children fled the blast furnace on the beach. Some missed the return plane because roads were cut off by the flames, according to posts on social media.
“Absolute Vigilance”
Inland, the fire reached the village of Laerma, destroying houses and a church, TV channel ERT and Greek agency ANA reported. “We are likely to experience a 16-17-day heatwave that our country has never seen before,” Kostas Lagouvardos, research director at the Institute for Environmental Research and Sustainable Development at the National Observatory in Athens, told ERT-TV.
“We need absolute vigilance (…) because the difficult times are not over yet,” Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis warned.
“We are facing a new heat wave” and “a possible strengthening of the winds” that have already fueled several fires around the capital since Monday, he added. According to the fire department, 46 new fires broke out in the country within 24 hours. On the sea surface, the mercury temperature was 2 to 3 °C above normal, the weather services said on Saturday.