About 600 people were evacuated from a massive fire in the Avila region (central Spain) on Sunday, as the country, hit by a scorching heat wave, recorded a record temperature of 47.4 degrees Celsius on Saturday, possibly based on provisional data. had gone. .
The disaster, which began on Saturday morning near the city of Navalcruz (northwest of Madrid), was hit by very high temperatures and wind gusts of more than 70 km/h in Spain since Wednesday. Government of the Region of Castile and León.
The area destroyed “could already exceed 5,000 hectares,” said José ngel Arrange, director general of natural heritage and forest policy of the regional government.
More than 500 members of rescue services supported by air assets were mobilized to stop the spread of the fire, forcing residents of five villages near the Sierra de Gredos to leave their homes.
Spain was also battling another fire in Azuebar in Valencia (the country’s east), which led to the evacuation of residents on Saturday evening and destroyed about 500 in the afternoon on Sunday.
“Solidarity with the evacuated residents. I can imagine their pain and concern,” Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez commented in a tweet.
The fires are the result of a severe heat wave that has been sweeping the country since Wednesday, which has manifested itself in unusually high temperatures for Spain this season.
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According to the National Meteorological Agency (AEMET), the absolute temperature record recorded in this country was broken on Saturday at 47.4 degrees Celsius in Montoro, Córdoba province in Andalusia (south).
“This will be the highest temperature ever recorded in Spain,” AEMET spokesman Rubén del Campo said on Sunday.
The highest temperature ever recorded in Spain (46.9 °C) was at Cordoba airport on July 13, 2017. The same temperature was recorded at the same place on Saturday as well.
The scorching heat continued in Spain this Sunday with temperatures exceeding 45 degrees in most areas. Eleven of the country’s 17 regions were thus on maximum (five) or very high (six) alerts due to the heatwave.
According to the Meteorological Agency, these temperatures, well above seasonal norms, are due to the arrival of very warm air masses from North Africa, combined with strong solar exposure.
Between 2011 and 2020, Spain recorded twice as many heat waves as in each of the previous three decades.
Scientists view recurrent heat waves as a direct result of global warming and believe that these heat waves are expected to multiply, lengthen and intensify.