Europe battles heatwave and fires, record temperatures scorch China



Europe is battling heat waves and fires, and record temperatures are sweeping China<br />













































July 19, 2023


Creation time: 07:21 PM


Last update: 07:21 PM



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Rome, July 19 /BNA/: Italy placed 23 cities on red alert with temperatures reaching 46C (114F) on Wednesday, one of the global hotspots with a sweltering heatwave, wildfires and floods wreaking havoc. From the United States to China.


A heat wave has hit southern Europe during the peak summer tourism season, breaking records including in Rome and warnings of an increased risk of fatalities.


The Lazio region, which focuses on Rome, said it saw a 20% increase in medical emergencies compared to the same period last year due to the heat.


Forest fires raged for a third day west of the Greek capital, Athens, and firefighters worked through the night to keep the flames away from coastal refineries.


The fires, fanned by erratic winds, destroyed dozens of homes, sent hundreds of people fleeing and blanketed the area in thick smoke. Experts said temperatures could rise to 43 degrees Celsius on Thursday.


In China, which was hosting US climate envoy John Kerry for talks, tourists braved the heat to visit a giant thermometer showing surface temperatures of 80 degrees Celsius.


In Beijing, which set a new record where temperatures remained above 35 degrees Celsius for the 28th consecutive day, Kerry expressed hope that cooperation to combat global warming would redefine the troubled relations between the two superpowers.


The global pattern of heat waves that have scorched parts of Europe, Asia and the United States this week has sharply sharpened that challenge.


Temperatures remained high across most of Italy on Wednesday, with 45-46C expected in the Mediterranean island of Sardinia.


The Health Ministry said it would activate an information hotline and teams of mobile health workers visited the elderly in Rome.


Workers at battery maker Magneti Marelli have threatened an 8-hour strike at their factory in central Italy in Sulmona. “The stifling heat puts workers’ lives at risk,” said a joint union statement.


While the heat wave seems to be receding in Spain, residents in Greece have been left scavenging through the rubble of their homes after the wildfires.


“Everything burned, everything. I’m going to throw it all away,” said Abram Parotsidis, 65.


Not everyone went willingly. Footage captured by Greek police showed officers pleading with a reluctant group of nuns to vacate a convent.


Scientists have long warned that climate change, caused mainly by greenhouse gas emissions from burning fossil fuels, will make heatwaves more frequent, intense and deadly.


In Germany, the heat wave has sparked an unexpected debate about whether workplaces should offer naps for workers.


El Corte Inglés, one of Spain’s largest supermarket chains, said sales of air conditioning units have jumped, as has interest in cooling pads for pets.


In South Korea, heavy rains have hit the central and southern regions since last week. Fourteen people died in a tunnel in the city of Cheongju, where more than a dozen vehicles were submerged on Saturday when a river dam collapsed. And in the southeastern province of North Gyeongsang, 22 people died, many from landslides and torrents.


In northern India, floods, landslides and incidents related to heavy rains have killed more than 100 people since the start of the monsoon season on June 1, with rainfall 41% higher than average.


The Yamuna River reached the walls of the Taj Mahal complex in Agra for the first time in 45 years, flooding many other historical monuments, and flooding parts of the Indian capital.


The Brahmaputra River, which runs through the Indian state of Assam, burst its banks this month, sweeping nearly half of Kaziranga National Park – home to the one-horned rhino – into deep waters.


A wall collapse triggered by monsoon rains has killed at least 11 construction workers in neighboring Pakistan.


In western China’s Xinjiang province, tourists wearing wide-brimmed hats and umbrellas took selfies with a giant thermometer that showed a real-time surface temperature of 80 degrees Celsius (176 Fahrenheit).


Every summer, people flock to the Flaming Mountains on the northern edge of the Turpan Depression in Xinjiang to see their undulating cliffs of brown-red sandstone and to deal with the sweltering heat radiating from the land.


In recent days, temperatures in Xinjiang and other parts of Asia, as well as Europe and the United States, have broken records.


On Sunday, a remote town in the Turpan Depression recorded a maximum air temperature of 52.2°C, breaking China’s national record of 50.3°C set in 2015, also in the basin.


Basra Governorate, in southern Iraq, with a population of about four million, said that government work will be suspended on Thursday as temperatures rise to 50 degrees Celsius. In the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, farmers said crops were deteriorating due to heat and drought.


Extreme temperatures in parts of the world are likely to be exacerbated by the return of an El Niño weather pattern in the tropical Pacific for the first time in seven years, which is expected to raise temperatures.


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