Holidaymakers wilt as Europe feels the wrath of ‘Lucifer’
‘Red’ warnings issued as temperatures reach more than 104F in Continent’s hottest summer for decade
A HEATWAVE nicknamed “Lucifer” has brought temperatures of more than 104F (40C) to Europe, causing wildfires, drought, and chaos throughout the continent.
Greece, Croatia, Italy, France and Spain are among the countries that have been labouring under intense heat, in Europe’s hottest summer for a decade.
The European weather hub Meteoalarm has issued its highest grade “red” warnings for 10 countries.
Jacqui Noble, a Scot who has lived in the south of France for 20 years, said while the heat was “energy-sapping”, her worst fear was forest fires. “There have been two close to me, and you still see people, mainly tourists, flicking cigarette butts out of cars,” she said.
The heat in Florence, Italy, was so fierce that the world-famous Uffizi Gallery closed for the day yesterday when the air-conditioning system broke down. Meanwhile, Italian wine growers have started gathering the grape harvest weeks earlier than usual due to the extreme heat. Carlo Petrini, founder of the Slow Food movement, wrote in La Stampa newspaper that the grape harvest had never started before Aug 15 in living memory.
“The health of the grapes is severely tested by this weather,” Petrini wrote, adding that growers ran the risk of finding the fruit “cooked by the sun and the burning heat”
Twenty six major towns and cities across Italy, including Rome and Palermo, are now on the health ministry’s list for maximum alert. “The red alert indicates emergency conditions with possible negative effects on healthy and active people, not only groups at risk like the elderly, small children and people with chronic illnesses,” said a statement from the health ministry. Tourists were being advised to take extra care in the hot weather as one wildfire, in the central Italian region of Abruzzo, claimed a woman’s life. The 79-year-old was found dead in a field on Thursday next to her home in Sant’omero, having apparently been overcome by flames that destroyed five acres of surrounding farmland.
Hospital admissions in Italy have risen 15 per cent in the past few days and the government was expected to declare a state of emergency in 11 regions.
The bodies of two elderly mountaineers were also found in Val Rosandra near the northern city of Trieste, Italy, late Thursday. The climbers are believed to have lost their footing and spent hours hanging off a cliff before dying of exposure in the heat.
Several fires were burning in Sicily and a group of boy scouts was evacuated from Marradi north of Florence as helicopters and firefighters were deployed to fight three blazes in the area.
In France, the national weather agency Meteo France has issued 15 departments with an orange alert. The affected areas include the Riviera and the French Alps. Gemma Hayward, an 18-year-old from Hertfordshire on holiday in Hérault, said she was “struggling to deal with this kind of heat” as the mercury cruised over 99F (37C) before midday. She said that she received a message in English on her phone from France’s weather agency warning for “extreme high temperature”.
Meanwhile, 33 of Spain’s 50 provinces are on alert over the soaring temperatures, which have broken records in several parts of the country and are predicted to reach up to 110F (43C) in some places.