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Europe Battles Weather Extremes
London (AFP) Jul 24, 2007 Europe battled weather extremes late Monday as heavy rain sparked the worst flooding in England in 60 years, while the south and east of the continent was roasting in a heatwave that claimed several lives. Large swathes of central and western England were submerged as rivers swelled and burst their banks during four days of heavy and persistent rain, leaving thousands without clean water or electricity and facing the prospect of more rain. Britain's COBRA government emergency planning committee met Monday evening amid concerns that an electricity sub-station in Gloucester would be flooded, leaving half a million homes without electricity. Fortunately for residents of the area, the Environment Agency said that the River Severn had reached a peak there, just two inches (5 centimetres) below the main wall protecting the city centre and the power station. The Royal Air Force evacuated around 150 people in its biggest ever peacetime rescue, while over 100 Royal Navy sailors were sent to bolster flood defences around the electricity sub-station which serves 500,000 homes. Prime Minister Gordon Brown earlier linked the floods to climate change and pledged 200 million pounds (298 million euros, 411 million dollars) extra funding, plus a review to address future issues. His comments came as a study released in the British science journal Nature yielded the first confirmation that global warming is already affecting world rainfall patterns. Changes in climate were bringing more precipitation to northern Europe, Canada and northern Russia but less to swathes of sub-Saharan Africa, southern India and Southeast Asia, according to scientists with Environment Canada. As Britain grappled with floods, soaring temperatures continued to wreak havoc across other parts of Europe. The death toll from a week-long heatwave in Romania rose to 18, the health minister said, and a red alert was called for several regions Tuesday where temperatures were set to reach 41 degrees Celsius (106 Fahrenheit) for the second day in a row. Bulgaria meanwhile experienced its hottest temperatures since records began Monday with the thermometer shooting above 45 degrees Celsius (113 Fahrenheit) in parts of the country, the meteorological institute said. One person has died because of the soaring temperatures, which are expected to keep climbing over the next two days. The heat has also contributed to 1,900 forest fires around the country. In the north, the mayor of Kozloduy declared a state of emergency because of the extreme drought, which has destroyed 90 percent of the corn and sunflower harvest. Water rationing has been imposed in nine towns around Veliko Tarnovo. Forest fires have also been breaking out across southern Europe, and in Greece two pilots were killed Monday when their Canadair water-bomber crashed while fighting a fire on the island of Evia. The casualties were the fifth suffered in a month that has seen fresh blazes start almost every day, many suspected to be arson. Over 300 fires have broken out around Greece since the weekend, fire officials said, aided by a combination of high temperatures and strong winds. Greece earlier this month experienced what authorities described as its longest heat wave in over 100 years, during which 15 people died, and the current hot spell is set to continue until Thursday. Another water-bomber plane crashed in central Italy Monday, killing one pilot and seriously injuring the other. More than 8,000 firefighters are mobilised against fires across the country, and according to ANSA news agency, several residential areas have been evacuated in central Urbino and Sardinia because of blazes.
earlier related report More than 8,000 firefighters, 1,700 trucks and 10 helicopters were deployed along with 21 planes including 13 "Scoopers" used to drop water on fires. A pilot was killed and another seriously injured late Monday when their plane crashed in the central Aquila province as they tried to put out a fire, officials said. "Today new fires broke out in (southern) Calabria and in Sicily and Sardinia," public safety director Luigi d'Angelo told AFP. An emergency services spokesman said three major operations were under way Monday afternoon near the central Italian town of Gubbio, near Catania in Sicily and around railway lines at San Giuliano Milanese, near northern Milan. The fire outside Milan caused a halt in national rail traffic for about an hour and a half in the middle of the day. In Urbino, in central Italy, and Nuoro in Sardinia, residents were evacuated from their homes when the flames came too close, the ANSA news agency reported without saying how many people were involved. "We've received 70 calls in the past 24 hours, which is twice the daily average for the season," D'Angelo said. Nearly 7,000 hectares (17,000 acres) of brush and forest burned in Italy in the first two weeks of July, forestry officials said. A surge in fires in recent days has been blamed on a combination of high winds and soaring temperatures. Eleven cities -- including Rome, Venice, Naples and Palermo -- are on "high alert" for heat-related health problems amid temperatures exceeding 40 degrees Celsius (104 Fahrenheit) in some places. A public safety warning said temperatures would remain high until at least Wednesday in the south, with a peak of 41.3 degrees Celsius (106 Fahrenheit) predicted Tuesday in Catania, Sicily, and 39.2 degrees in Rome.
Bulgaria swelters through record-breaking heatwave The mercury is expected to keep climbing over the next two days, the institute added. Veliko Tarnovo, in central Bulgaria, registered 45.5 degrees Centigrade Monday while southwestern Sandanski experienced 43.2 degrees and Ruse on the Danube in the north saw 42.8 degrees. These were the highest temperatures registered in Bulgaria since records started 120 years ago. The week-long heatwave has already killed at least one person and contributed to 1,900 forest fires around the country. In the north, the mayor of Kozloduy has declared a state of emergency because of the extreme drought, which has destroyed 90 percent of the corn and sunflower harvest. Water rationing has been imposed in nine towns around Veliko Tarnovo and farmers around the country were calling for government aid to compensate their losses. A large forest fire was burning near Harmanli in the south, while in northwestern Montana, pine trees were being doused with water to prevent them catching fire. In Sofia's zoo, the monkeys and lions were being regularly sprayed with water while the bears, hippopotamus, elephant and tiger had their own pools to cool off in. Zookeepers were also providing some animals with ice-cream and frozen fruit to counter the heat.
Source: Agence France-Presse Community Email This Article Comment On This Article Related Links Weather News at TerraDaily.com
Heatwave Claims 500 Lives In Hungary, 16 In Greece
Budapest (AFP) July 24, 2007Hungary said Tuesday as many as 500 people may have died last week in a heatwave which was continuing to stifle much of southern and eastern Europe and spark deadly brush fires. Searing temperatures across the region have claimed scores of lives, including in southern Italy where a wildfire Tuesday burned two people alive in their car and suffocated another pair on a beach nearby. |
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