Heat waves are bringing about extreme weather across Europe, from wildfires in Greece, to hailstorms in Italy and heavy rainfall in the Balkans.
The Greek coast guard is leading efforts to evacuate tourists and locals from beaches in the Kiotari and Lardos areas in the eastern part of the island of Rhodes, after a wildfire broke out Saturday on higher ground in the region.
The coast guard has coordinated the evacuation of thousands of people and the operation is ongoing, Greek Shipping Minister Miltiadis Varvitsiotis said in a tweet. More than 170 Greek firefighters using vehicles, helicopters and planes are responding to the blaze, according to a fire department spokesman.
Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis went Saturday to the National Coordination Center for Operations and Crisis Management, where the operations to contain the fire in Rhodes are being coordinated. So far, around 2,500 people evacuated by sea.
Civil protection authorities have warned of a very high risk of wildfires Sunday throughout Greece, as temperatures are expected to hit 45C (113F) in some areas.
Hail in Italy
Other parts of Europe are dealing with the aftermath of freak storms.
An area of northern Italy was pelted with hailstones the size of tennis balls after the country experienced scorching heat that broke temperature records in Rome.
Luca Zaia, president of the Veneto region, which is home to Venice, tweeted a video Thursday showing devastation from hailstones he said were as much as 10 centimeters (3.9 inches) in diameter.
Balkan Storms
Storms also wreaked havoc in parts of western Balkans, including in Serbia, where three people died overnight in separate incidents, Tanjug newswire reported.
A woman died in a fire triggered by lightning, a 12-year-old boy was killed by a falling tree, and a man was electrocuted where he tried to remove power lines ripped by extreme wind. Earlier this week, six people died in similar storms and extreme weather in Croatia, Slovenia and Bosnia-Herzegovina.
Heavy rainfall, gusts of wind and lightning have damaged power systems, destroyed dozens of cars and peeled rooftops from several buildings in the region.
On Saturday, Croatia’s Premier Andrej Plenkovic met with emergency teams working to repair extensive damage caused by storms earlier this week, including the Adriatic nation’s power distribution in the height of the tourist season, the government said. The storms this week were the most intense in Croatia since records have been kept from the mid-19th century, it said.
