Spain issued red alerts for three regions on Tuesday over the “extreme” danger posed by high temperatures as firefighters battled the blaze raging across the Canary Islands. According to the Aemet meteorological agency, temperatures will reach maximums between 38 and 42 degrees in much of the country, hit by drought.
The heat should be even more intense in the eastern region of Catalonia, in Aragon and in the Balearic Islands, where thermometers could reach 44 degrees. For this reason, the meteorological office issued a red alert for these three regions, warning that the “danger” of the heat would be “extreme”.
Given this scenario, the authorities recommended that people stay home during the hottest part of the day and drink plenty of water. Lidia Rodríguez, a 27-year-old from the southern city of Seville, is visiting Madrid and said she was used to the heat, but she acknowledged that the temperatures in the Spanish capital were “suffocating.”
The Home Office has warned that much of the country faces a “very high” or “extreme” risk of wildfires due to the scorching temperatures that are affecting most of the Mediterranean. On the island of La Palma, some 400 firefighters, supported by nine aircraft, are fighting a fire that has been raging since Saturday in wooded and mountainous terrain.
Cooler temperatures overnight and higher levels of air humidity helped firefighters gain a head start on the blaze.
“I think that the evolution of the fire will improve a lot in the next few hours,” said Manuel Miranda, Minister of Territorial Policy of the Canary Islands, this Tuesday morning, hopeful.
The fire destroyed some 3,500 hectares, burned some 20 houses and other buildings and temporarily forced the evacuation of four thousand inhabitants.
Source: TSF
