More than 2,500 people were evacuated overnight as a precaution in Corfu, Greece, where a fire is raging in the north of this very touristy island, a spokesman for the fire brigade told Agence Fance-Presse on Monday July 24.
The forest fire in the north of the island led to the “preventive evacuation of 2,466 people” in the night from Sunday to Monday, said Yannis Artopios and emphasized that no houses or hotels had been destroyed so far. Authorities warned residents and holidaymakers in many small towns in the north through an alert sent to mobile phones, urging them to “vacate their homes as a precaution”, according to Mr Artopios.
“Authorities evacuated nearly 2,500 people from the Greek island of Corfu on Monday as emergency services battled multiple wildfires in heat-stricken Greece. »
One of the longest heat waves in decades
The fire broke out on Sunday and continues to burn the forest in the north of this Ionian Sea island (northwest), where “62 firefighters, supported by two helicopters and two water bombers,” are on duty, according to the fire department on Monday.
After being hit by one of the longest heatwaves in decades on Sunday, with temperatures locally reaching more than 46C, Greece has been ravaged by wildfires since last week.
A violent fire on the also tourist island of Rhodes in the south-eastern Aegean led to the evacuation of 30,000 tourists on Saturday, “the largest operation”. [de ce type] “This has never been done in Greece,” officials said. From dawn Monday morning, two helicopters and two water bombers resumed operations in support of firefighters on this Dodecanese island, which has been ravaged by flames for the seventh straight day.
Rhodes and Corfu are the most popular destinations in Greece for tourists, especially British and Germans.
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