The Greek Prime Minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, called on Thursday for “maximum vigilance” in the face of the new heat wave that is hitting Greece, with temperatures that could reach 45°C over the next weekend.
In the face of the heat wave, all the country’s archaeological sites, including the Acropolis of Athens, will remain closed during the hottest part of the day until Sunday, the Ministry of Culture determined.
“We have to be absolutely vigilant (…) because the difficult times have not ended yet,” warned the head of government during a visit to the Ministry of the Environment.
“We are facing a new heat wave (…) and possibly stronger winds”, which have already caused several fires on the outskirts of Athens since last Monday, he stressed.
Greece forecasts maximum temperatures of 43°C for this Thursday, which should rise further in the coming days, with 44° to 45° forecast for Friday and Saturday, in the center of the country.
A temperature record was recorded in the Greek capital: 44.8° in June 2007, according to the Athens National Observatory, while the record for Greece was reached in July 1977, with 48°, in Elefsina, near Athens. .
This Thursday the situation regarding forest fires improved. However, hundreds of firefighters continue to fight forest fires west of Athens that have already destroyed thousands of hectares.
The prime minister regretted “the situation of the fires that have been active for four days in Attica, in the Athens region, in Corinth and in Boeotia, near the capital.”
The risk of fire remains very high in the region of the capital, Attica, as well as in the Peloponnese peninsula (southwest) and in central Greece, according to Civil Protection.
On the tourist island of Rhodes, where a forest fire broke out two days ago, five planes and five helicopters were still fighting the flames.
Southeast of Athens, 3,472 hectares have burned in recent days, according to the European Copernicus observatory.
Source: TSF
