The fight against forest fires in Greece, in particular that on the tourist island of Rhodes, continues on Monday, a day marked by “a slight drop” in temperature before a new heat wave expected on Tuesday, according to the national weather forecast.
More than 266 firefighters are trying to contain the fire in the south and west of the island of Rhodes, located in the Dodecanese archipelago in the Aegean Sea, where over the weekend 30,000 tourists were evacuated during “the largest operation” of the type “ever carried out in Greece”, crushed under a new episode of heat wave.
Nearly 2,500 people evacuated in Corfu
Hundreds of tourists, in particular British, German or French, waited Sunday evening at Rhodes International Airport, looking for a flight to return home, while several airlines suspended their flights to the island.
From dawn on Monday morning, two helicopters and two water bombers resumed their operation to support firefighters on this island, one of the most touristic in the country and which has been plagued by flames several times in recent decades.
Four other fires broke out last weekend, including one on the island of Corfu, in the Ionian Sea (north-west), also very popular with vacationers. Some “62 firefighters supported by two helicopters and two water bombers” operate there on Monday, according to the fire department, which announced the evacuation of nearly 2,500 people overnight.
Many regions “on red alert”
Fires are also active on Monday in Aigio, in the northern Peloponnese, in Karystos in the south of the island of Evia and in Boeotia, a department in the north of Athens.
Many regions of the country remain Monday “on red alert”, that is to say in “extreme danger” of forest fires, according to the authorities but “no locality in the night from Sunday to Monday was threatened by the flames”, indicated an official from the press office of the fire brigade.
Like every summer, Greece is plagued by forest fires, often deadly, ravaging tens of thousands of hectares of forests and vegetation.
One of the longest heat waves in recent years
This summer, the country has experienced one of the longest heat waves in recent years, according to experts from the national weather service EMY, with temperatures up to 45 ° C in the center at the weekend.
On Monday, the temperature “will drop slightly” with temperatures forecast up to 37 ° C in Athens while in the center and in the Peloponnese the mercury should reach 42 ° C while strong winds up to 50 km / h are expected in the Aegean Sea, according to the EMY.
Tuesday, a resumption of heat is expected with temperatures up to 44 ° C, according to the EMY.