Three dead in Spain and top of Eiffel Tower shut in Paris as heatwave scorches Europe
The summer's first major heatwave has scorched countries along the northern coast of the Mediterranean.
The Mediterranean Sea itself was warmer than usual, recording a new June high of 26.01C on Sunday, according to French weather service scientist Thibault Guinaldo, citing data from EU monitor Copernicus.
According to scientists, extreme weather events, such as heatwaves and storms, are becoming more intense due to man-made climate change.
Thousands of people have died in Europe during past heatwaves, prompting authorities to issue warnings for old and young, the sick, and others vulnerable to what experts call a 'silent killer'.
Three dead in Spain
In Spain – where temperatures have exceeded 40 degrees Celsius – firefighters said they found two bodies after a fire broke out in the Catalonia region in the country's north east.
Authorities had on Tuesday confined about 14,000 people to their homes due to two wildfires that broke out almost simultaneously in the province of Lerida.
In one of the blazes, near the city of Cosco, 'two people were found lifeless by firefighters', the fire and emergency service said in a statement.
The exact cause of the fire was unclear, but the service said the recent heat, dry conditions and strong winds caused by storms had increased the intensity of the flames.
Catalonia regional president Salvador Illa said he was 'dismayed after learning of the death of two people as a result of the fire', in a post on X.
Hours earlier, police in the region had reported the death of a two-year-old boy after he was left in a parked car in the sun for several hours.
Earlier, one person died in the southern city of Cordoba and another in Barcelona, both while doing road work on Saturday. They were both likely victims of heatstroke.
That day, temperatures in southern Spain soared to 46C – a new record for June – the national weather agency said.
Eiffel Tower's top floor closes in Paris
In France, the heatwave was due to peak on Tuesday and Wednesday after the night from Sunday to Monday was the highest ever recorded for June.
Paris was put on alert for extreme heat on Tuesday and the Eiffel Tower's summit was closed on Tuesday and Wednesday, with tourists prohibited from visiting the landmark's top floor.
'Due to the current heatwave, the Eiffel Tower is taking measures to ensure the comfort and safety of our visitors and staff,' a message on the Eiffel Tower's website reads.
'The Summit is closed all day on July 2 … Visits to the 2nd and 1st floors are still possible.'
Other cities in Paris have been offering different ways to stay cool, from free swimming pools in Marseille to parks open until 11:00pm in Bordeaux.
Meanwhile, about 400 hectares of vegetation were destroyed by fire off a motorway in France's south on Sunday. The blaze was blamed on a poorly extinguished barbecue.
Prisons swelter in Italy
Over in Italy, authorities have issued red alerts for 18 cities over the next few days, including Rome, Milan, Verona, Perugia and Palermo.
Italy's opposition parties urged the government on Monday to improve conditions in the country's stifling prisons, which are notoriously overcrowded.
The same problem also affects French prisons and the prison governors' union called the situation 'unbearable'.
Heat 'exacerbates existing frustrations and tensions', added Wilfried Fonck, national secretary of the Ufap Unsa Justice prison union.
'The situation needs to be defused to stop things from escalating more than usual,' he told AFP.
Other nations sizzle
In Turkey, rescuers evacuated over 50,000 people who were threatened by a string of wildfires, the AFAD disaster agency said on Monday.
Most of the people were evacuated from the western province of Izmir, where winds of 120 kilometres per hour fanned the blazes.
Meanwhile, in Portugal, the national meteorological agency said the temperature had reached 46.6C in Mora on Sunday, which experts cited by local media said was a new June record.
In Croatia, the vast majority of the coastline was on red alert as of Tuesday, and an extreme temperature alert issued has been issued for Montenegro.
Over in England, the temperature soared to 34.7C in central London on Tuesday, according to the Met Office.
The figure beat the previous highest temperature of 34.4C recorded in Writtle, Essex, earlier in the day.
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ABC News
a day ago
- ABC News
SA's toxic algal bloom is unlikely to end soon so what are the consequences?
It's an unprecedented ecological disaster, and authorities can't say when it will end. South Australia's toxic algal bloom has been affecting waters off parts of the state's coast since at least March. There were hopes winter weather conditions would help it dissipate, but so far the bloom hasn't gone away. So what do we know about the bloom, and — perhaps more importantly — what don't we know? What caused the bloom? According to Environment Minister Susan Close, there are three main factors that allowed the algae, Karenia mikimotoi , to bloom. The first is a lot of nutrients were flushed into South Australian waters as a result of the River Murray floods in 2023, providing a food source for the algae. There's also been a marine heatwave off the state's coast since October 2024, where sea temperatures have been sitting more than two degrees Celsius above normal. The third factor was a series of high pressure systems that meant the water was relatively still and didn't wash the algae out to sea. Susan Close says the algae is not toxic to human beings. ( ABC News: Lincoln Rothall ) Ms Close said all three factors can be attributed to climate change. "All three of the conditions that lead to this have been exacerbated by climate change," she said. "We can't hide our head in the sand and pretend that this is somehow a phenomenon that might have somehow happened without climate change." Marine biologist from the University of Sydney Shauna Murray said it's to early to pinpoint the exact causes. Small fish have washed up dead on Brighton Beach this week. ( ABC News: Olivia Mason ) "It's certainly true that the marine environment is changing and these changes come with a lack of predictability," she said. "But I think we don't have the data yet and it's going to take time to look through it all and figure it out." How does the bloom affect fish? Foam and dead sea life are the two key hallmarks of the bloom. Professor Murray said the algae affects fish gills and skin. " Karenia mikimotoi doesn't actually produce a toxin but it does produce what's called reactive oxygen species so this can damage the gills of fish and it can affect skin cells," she said. "What this damaging the gills of the fish means is marine animals basically drown if their gills become too damaged." Professor Shauna Murray is one of only a handful of experts in Australia who research algal blooms. ( Supplied UTS: Toby Burrows ) Professor Murray said low levels of brevetoxin have also been detected in the bloom, which could also be responsible for deaths. She said Karenia mikimotoi doesn't create brevetoxins, but other species of karenia have also been detected in the bloom " Karenia mikimotoi is the main species and Karenia mikimotoi doesn't produce brevetoxin so we know that's not the major reason," she said. The algae produced large amounts of foam at Knights Beach in SA's South Coast in April. ( ABC South East SA: Caroline Horn ) "In this particular bloom we've found several other species of karenia. "None of them are a smoking gun in terms of we know that they have previously produced brevetoxins but having said that we need to get them into culture and test them." If it affects gill fish — why are dolphins and seals being found dead? The official advice is that Karenia mikimotoi isn't toxic to mammals. The government said it's not uncommon for marine mammal carcasses to wash ashore after winter storms. But it is testing a dolphin carcass that was found at Tennyson Beach last Monday to see if the bloom contributed to its death. Professor Murray said the presence of brevetoxin could be a factor. "It's certainly within the scope that this could be related and I think there would have to be investigation to try and work that out," she said. Where has the bloom reached? The bloom was first reported by surfers at Waitpinga Beach in March, after they experienced coughing and respiratory affects from the algae. Since then, its impacts — foaming seas and fish kills — have been seen along the Fleurieu Peninsula, Kangaroo Island and Yorke Peninsula. At its largest, the government said it was the size of Kangaroo Island. The winter storms that many hoped would break up the bloom have dissipated it slightly, but they have also pushed it further into the Gulf St Vincent, where it's now affecting Adelaide's metropolitan beaches. Low levels of the algae have been found in West Lakes, and testing is being done in the Port River, with fears it could reach there as well. Why is it persisting, and when will it go away? The government admits, it didn't anticipate the bloom would be this prolonged, and can't predict how long it will last. The last time there was a harmful bloom of Karenia mikimotoi was at Coffin Bay in 2014, but while it caused some damage locally, it lasted little more than a week. Dead sea life can be seen along South Australia's coast. ( ABC News: Che Chorley ) Estuarine ecologist Faith Coleman said most algal blooms pass so quickly, they are rarely noted. "Then there are this group of blooms that last three to four months and those ones cover a larger area, they're often in the more open marine zone and they attract an awful lot more attention," she said. "What concerns me is there's this class of blooms that last around the 18 months to two years and there seems to be this gap between three to four months and 18 months to two years. "So I am deeply concerned that since we have passed that three to four month point with this … that we are looking at a bloom that will now go for 18 months if it doesn't clear this winter." Ms Coleman said if it persists through winter, it's likely to bloom with more intensity in summer. Ecologist Faith Coleman started testing water samples from Waitpinga in the days after the initial algal bloom. ( ABC News: Che Chorley ) The other concern is even when the bloom dissipates, Karenia mikimotoi can lie dormant, and bloom again when the conditions are right. If this bloom continues for a year or more, what are the consequences? Ms Coleman said eco-systems can quickly bounce back from short algal blooms, but prolonged ones can have major ecological consequences. A dead dolphin spotted at Grange Beach. ( Supplied: Jock Lawrie ) "One event, fish can swim out, breed somewhere else or miss a breeding for the year and come back in again," Ms Coleman said. "Also things like fish eggs and spores for the macro algae and the seeds of the seagrasses quite comfortably accommodate one bad season. "They don't accommodate so well multiple bad seasons. Two is not good, three is quite bad. By the time you get to four or five seasons in a row, you're starting to lose major parts of your ecosystem." What's being done for the fishing and aquaculture industries? The bloom has taken its toll on fishing and aquaculture, with some oyster farms on the Yorke Peninsula being closed down, and fishers reporting reduced catch. Ms Close said the government is working with industry to see how it can help, but this bloom is a "real lesson" to people who rely on the marine environment for their livelihood. "I think farmers on land have become used to the idea of frequent droughts and they're very well aware that we're in a drying period as a result of climate change," she said. "I think people who are dependent on the marine environment need to appreciate that they can no longer rely on a stable and predictable marine environment." Dead pipis along the shoreline at Goolwa Beach. ( ABC News: Che Chorley ) Ms Close said businesses should consider things like business interruption insurance and other measures to make themselves more resilient to climate change. But she said the good news is that Karenia mikimotoi isn't toxic to humans — and any fish caught in South Australian waters is still safe to eat. Is there anything we can do? There's nothing that can be done to dissipate a bloom the size of this one, and addressing climate change takes a global effort. But Ms Close said there are things that can be done to make the environment more prepared to tackle the impacts of climate change. "The better we look after the environment, the more resilient it will be when we have these sorts of crises linked to climate change," she said. "We need to explicitly decouple our economic growth and prosperity from asking nature to always take a bit more of a hit." A Port Jackson shark has been found dead among other marine life on Adelaide beaches. ( ABC News: Olivia Mason ) Ms Close said examples of where the South Australian government had done that was through establishing marine parks and sanctuaries, and through waterways management. Professor Murray said one lesson from the bloom is more monitoring of our waters are needed. "We need to have a bit more regular monitoring of recreational waters and beaches for harmful algal blooms," she said. "In the past all our monitoring is linked to shellfish aquaculture areas which is obviously very important but just that we need to expand this to other waters." Faith Coleman says prolonged algal blooms could have major consequences. ( ABC News: Che Chorley ) Faith Coleman said there are ways local communities can respond to the bloom, by establishing more oyster reefs, muscle beds and seagrass beds. "We're seeing that embayments with lost of seagrasses and lots of macro algae and lots of filter feeders, even though those things are really badly impacted by this algae, those areas that have lots of them are less badly impacted," she said. "It is a scale that is huge, but if each local community does one, and each local government does one little area then maybe we'll get there at a statewide level." Ms Close said part of its research into this bloom will be how to best protect marine ecosystems, and what can be done to invest in restoration. "How are we going to bounce back? Do we need to invest in more reefs? Do we need to invest in an even greater network of marine parks?" she said. "All of that will be a guide of how we get better to responding to climate change."
News.com.au
2 days ago
- News.com.au
Meltdown: Swiss glaciers hit annual tipping point weeks early
The snow and ice accumulated last winter by Switzerland's glaciers has already melted away, a monitoring service said, with Friday marking the alarming second-earliest arrival on record of the tipping point known as glacier loss day. All further melting between now and October will see the size of glaciers in the Swiss Alps shrink, according to Glacier Monitoring in Switzerland (GLAMOS). This century, the tipping point, on average, has been reached in mid-August -- itself already bad news for the nation's 1,400 glaciers, which are shrinking at a staggering rate. Its arrival several weeks earlier on July 4 is "another alarm call", GLAMOS chief Matthias Huss told AFP. "It's like the glaciers are shouting out: 'We're disappearing. Help us.'" Glaciers in the Swiss Alps began to retreat about 170 years ago. The retreat was initially modest but in recent decades, melting has accelerated significantly as the climate warms. The volume of Swiss glaciers shrank by 38 percent between 2000 and 2024. - Summer of destruction - "If we have a glacier loss day, it means that the glacier is losing mass," said Huss. "For a glacier that is healthy, the day would occur at the end of September, or in October -- or not at all". With no glacier loss day, the summer would simply melt away only the snow that accumulated over the previous winter. This would be "the ideal case -- a glacier in equilibrium with the climate", said Huss. Its arrival on July 4 means that "critically, we have the whole summer left to destroy the ice". "Moving this day forward by five to six weeks before the normal date over the last 20 years means we're just prolonging this mass loss season dramatically," he said. The assessment is made using 12 reference glaciers. Last winter saw low levels of snowfall, and June was the second warmest on record, contributing to the day's early arrival this year. In data going back to 2000, the only time that the tipping point arrived even earlier was in 2022, when it came on June 26. "That was really a game-changer for us glaciologists because it was the first year when we saw absolutely extreme melting. "Everything that we knew before about glacier melting changed," said Huss. Experts thought 2022 was a complete outlier and although a warming climate meant other such years would be coming down the line, they did not expect to see the next very early glacier loss day coming so soon afterwards. - Feedback effect - Huss noted that extreme melting produces an accelerating feedback effect, worsening the situation even further. Once the reflective white snow coverage from winter is gone from the top of the glacier, the darker, more absorbent grey surface of the bare ice is exposed. "With the same amount of solar radiation, we can now melt more ice," Huss said. With the European heatwave over the past week and the possibility of further heatwaves in July and August, "it is very like that again it is a very bad year for Swiss glaciers", he said. Melting glaciers threatens the long-term water security for millions of people downstream who rely on them for fresh water.
News.com.au
2 days ago
- News.com.au
Thousands evacuated as Greek, Turkish wildfires rage
A wildfire fanned by gale-force winds on the southern Greek island of Crete has forced the evacuation of thousands of residents and tourists, officials said Thursday. An elderly man died in neighbouring Turkey, where wildfires forced the evacuation of six villages in the western province of Izmir. Some 30 kilometres (19 miles) east of Athens, another fire broke out near the port of Rafina on Thursday afternoon and had already burned five or six houses, one local mayor told ERT public television. Hot dry weather in Greece -- not unusual for this time of year -- has heightened the risk of a repeat of the summer wildfires that have hit the country in recent years. Turkey, although spared the recent heatwaves that gripped southern Europe, has battled the effects of a long-term drought likely brought on by climate change. On Crete, about 5,000 people were evacuated after a blaze that broke out Wednesday evening, the president of the regional hotels' association told AFP. Yorgos Tzarakis said about 3,000 tourists and 2,000 residents had been moved, mostly overnight, as a precaution from areas close to the Crete resort town of Ierapetra. Vice-prefect Yannis Androulakis told Greek broadcaster Mega officials had ordered the evacuations because water bomber planes could not reach the affected areas overnight. Those evacuated had been put up in hotels or gyms in Ierapetra, in the southeast, he added. Strong winds on three active fronts helped the fire to progress, said Androulakis. Fire service spokesman Vassilios Vathrakoyannis said around 170 firefighters, 17 firefighting planes, 48 fire engines and seven helicopters were fighting the blaze. Winds reached nine on the Beaufort scale, he added. - One dead in Turkey - In Turkey, two wildfires broke out near Izmir, Turkey's third city. In each case, three villages were evacuated. "An elderly, bedridden patient could not be saved," said Salih Uzun, a lawmaker in Izmir for the opposition CHP party, of the blaze close to Odemis. Izmir governor Suleyman Elban said the main problem had been wind speeds of up to 85 kilometres per hour (53 miles per hour) and their constant changes of direction. "So the intervention from both land and air is seriously challenging," he told reporters, adding that the flames had cut off the main highway from Izmir city. In both places, a total of "nine planes, 22 helicopters and 1,100 (fire trucks and other) vehicles are intensively fighting the fires". He said both fires in the province, as well as others over the weekend and since mastered, had been caused by power cables. Meteorologist Ismail Kucuk, citing forestry ministry figures, told AFP "90 percent of forest fires" were due to man-made causes. Power cables in particular posed a risk if not properly maintained, he added. - Uneven, arid terrain - The inaccessible terrain in Crete, Greece's largest island, has made it difficult for firefighters to tackle the blaze. The fire damaged houses and crops in fruit and vegetable greenhouses, media reports said. Like the rest of Crete, Ierapetra -- a seaside resort with a population of 23,000 -- takes in thousands of tourists in the summer. The risk of fires was "considerable" in July, the hottest month of the year in Greece, Vathrakoyannis said. The country recorded its hottest-ever summer in 2024, when 45,000 hectares (110,000 acres) of land burned, according to WWF Greece and the Athens National Observatory. In terms of surface area destroyed, 2023 was the worst on record. Nearly 175,000 hectares were obliterated and 20 people died during heatwaves when temperatures rose in places to 46 degrees Celsius (115 degrees Fahrenheit). Experts say human-driven climate change is causing more frequent and more intense wildfires and other natural disasters, and have warned Turkey to take measures to tackle the problem. hec-yap/jj/gv
