Extreme weather continues to hit parts of southern Europe, with an ‘extreme heat warning’ in Italy, a ‘meteo-tsunami’ wave hitting Mallorca and deadly forest fires ripping through Turkish villages.
The mercury is expected to rise as high as 42 degrees Celsius in the southern Italian city of Foggia today, while hotels in Sicily have reportedly turned away tourists due to the island’s drought.
In Spain, dramatic video footage shows a huge wave crashing over the road in the Balearic resort of Puerto Alcudia, an area popular with tourists.
A similar video emerged today of a freak wave washing away sunbeds in Menorca.
Meanwhile, in southeastern Turkey, five people were killed and dozens injured as a massive forest fire swept through several villages overnight, the country’s health minister said Friday.
Images posted on social media showed flames sweeping across a wide area, consuming entire swathes of forest and lighting up the night sky as huge clouds of smoke billowed into the sky.
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Firefighters are extinguishing a burning fire near Kumkoy, Gallipoli Peninsula, Turkey
Rome was hit by a heatwave this week, with tourists queuing for water outside the Colosseum
A ‘meteo-tsunami’ causes water to flow over the sea wall into a city on Mallorca
The Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) seasonal forecast for July, August and September predicts extreme and warmer than average temperatures in the Mediterranean (photo: probability of temperatures being in the highest percentiles of climatology for seasonal averages, with a ‘ above’ temperature. -normal change when crossing the 80th percentile)
Italy is now also preparing for forest fires, with warnings that the heatwave combined with dry conditions could create ideal conditions for fires in areas such as Sardinia and Sicily.
The island is leading the way in dealing with warmer summers due to climate change, with 2021 recording Europe’s highest recorded temperature of 48.8 degrees Celsius.
Summers are also getting longer and hotter, raising concerns that extreme heat will grip the area early in the season.
In Agrigento – a destination known for its incredible Greek temples – tourists are being turned away from bed and breakfasts as water supplies dry up.
Francesco Picarella, the local head of the Federalberghi hoteliers’ association, told The Times this week: ‘The water supply is available two or three times a week. All houses have reservoirs to store water, but for some this is not enough.
‘Places without water lead tourists to other B&Bs. And it’s only June.’
The capital Rome has also suffered intense heat, with pictures of baking tourists queuing to get water outside the Colosseum.
The peak of the heatwave is expected today, before a weather system moves into northern regions and is expected to bring downpours, with warnings of thunderstorms and heavy rain expected to cause flooding.
Chairs are seen submerged in the water after the wave in Mallorca as people walk nearby
Water was filmed rushing over roads in the popular resort of Puerto Alcudia
In a video of the moment the water poured over the road, people can be seen walking past the alarming flood
Meanwhile, a warm air mass in Mallorca has led to a bizarre weather phenomenon: a so-called ‘meteo-tsunami’.
In a video of the moment water flows over the road, people can be seen walking past the alarming flood in Puerto Alcudia on the island’s northeast coast.
The phenomenon is locally called a ‘rissaga’ and is caused by storms above the air mass, meteorologists say.
Fast-moving weather conditions such as thunderstorms cause water levels to rise or fall ‘noticeably’ within minutes, with very little warning.
Spanish Met Office spokesperson Miquel Gili explained: ‘Pressure variations affect sea levels.
‘When the pressure increases, the sea sinks; when the pressure drops, the sea rises. The main characteristic of these increases and decreases is that they
‘In just 15 minutes, sea levels can rise or fall very noticeably and then return to normal.’
It comes after an orange weather alert was issued for the Spanish island on Tuesday.
Spain’s national weather agency AEMET warned that there is a 40 to 70 percent chance of a meteorological tsunami between 6 p.m. Wednesday and 8 a.m. Thursday.
Tourists hold umbrellas to protect themselves from the sun as they walk near the Colosseum amid a heat wave in Rome
Claira from Massachusetts uses a fan attached to her iPhone to cool down as she waits in line to enter the Roman Forum
Tourists try to cope with the heat as the air temperature on the streets of Rome reaches 42 degrees Celsius
A woman fills her bottle with water at a drinking fountain near the Colosseum during a heat wave in Rome, Italy, June 20, 2024
Meanwhile, it is the dry conditions ravaging Turkey, allowing forest fires to ignite in the Kurdish southeastern region that have led to fatalities.
“Five people died and 44 were injured, 10 seriously,” as the fire destroyed two areas between Diyarbakir and Mardin provinces, Health Minister Fahrettin Koca wrote on X, formerly Twitter.
Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said the fire started late Thursday when a “stubble fire” about 30 kilometers south of Diyabakir spread rapidly due to high winds and affected five villages.
The Health Minister said seven emergency teams and 35 ambulances have been sent to the scene.
Turkey’s pro-Kurdish DEM party, in a post on
‘So far, intervention from the ground has not been sufficient. The authorities must intervene more comprehensively and from the air, without wasting time,” the report said.
Photos show smoke billowing over an area in southern Turkey amid forest fires
Smoke rises as firefighting planes drop water to extinguish a fire in a wooded area yesterday
Firefighters are busy extinguishing a burning fire near Kumkoy, Gallipoli Peninsula, Turkey, Tuesday, June 18, 2024
According to the latest figures from the European Forest Fire Information System (EFFIS), Turkey has suffered 74 forest fires so far this year, which have destroyed 12,910 hectares of land.
In the summer of 2021, Turkey was hit by its worst ever forest fires, which claimed nine lives and destroyed large areas of forested land along the coasts of the Mediterranean and Aegean Seas.
The disaster sparked a political crisis after Turkey emerged as having no functioning firefighting aircraft, increasing pressure on President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who was forced to accept international aid.
It also prompted Ankara to push through Turkey’s delayed ratification of the Paris Climate Agreement, becoming the last of the 20 major economies to do so.
Experts say climate change will cause more fires and other disasters in Turkey unless measures are taken to tackle the problem.
