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Extinguishing work in the holiday resort of Lindos on Rhodes

Photo: Petros Giannakouris / dpa

There are still fires in several regions of Greece – although more than 100 firefighting planes and helicopters have been in action for days. Also on Tuesday, the risk of fire will be extremely high, said the civil defense. The Greeks are being helped by firefighters from several EU countries. Turkey and Egypt have also sent firefighting planes and helicopters.

The situation in the southeast of the holiday island of Rhodes is bad. Strong winds blow there and fan the flames again and again. On Monday, several houses on the island's mountains burned out, state television reported. Reporters on the ground feared that these fires could again threaten hotel complexes. Thousands of tourists and residents have recently been brought to safety there.

"Cooling" to 35 degrees expected on Thursday – due to strong winds

The damage in Rhodes is already extensive. About ten percent of the island's hotels were damaged over the weekend, according to Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis. Most of the damaged tourist facilities are located south of the region of Lindos.

There is also a fire on the island of Euboea. The region of the small port town of Karystos is particularly affected. The fire brigade managed to contain a fire on the holiday island of Corfu on Monday. Around 1000,<> tourists who had been brought to safety gradually returned to their hotels, as the local state regional broadcaster ERA-Corfu reported on Monday evening.

Meanwhile, the end of the extreme heat wave in Greece is approaching. On Thursday, strong winds are expected to lead to a "cooling" to 35 degrees. For twelve days, it has been around 40 to 45 degrees in most regions of the country. With a duration of more than two weeks, this will be the longest heat wave since measurements have been taken in Greece, meteorologists said.

Persistent drought also threatens forest fires in France, Italy, Spain and Portugal

Before the cooling comes, there will be a final heat peak. Especially in the west of the country, a wind coming from the direction of Libya is expected for Tuesday and Wednesday: It is a hot, dry downwind – the notorious "Livas". According to meteorologists, this wind is extremely dry and as hot as air from a hair dryer.

As a result of global warming, large parts of Europe are threatened with ever longer and more intense periods of heat and drought. Other weather extremes such as downpours and storms are also becoming more frequent.

Forest fires are also threatening other countries in the Mediterranean region due to persistent heat and drought. At the beginning of the week, there was a high risk of forest fires in France, Italy, Spain and Portugal. In Malta, the high temperatures also led to power outages, some of which lasted up to 36 hours. According to the state-owned electricity company Enemalta, the high temperatures damaged many underground cables.

The Red Cross warned of the danger of explosions of old ammunition in the face of the heat wave and forest fires. In former war zones, the detonators of unexploded ordnance could be triggered by very high temperatures, said Erik Tollefsen, weapons expert at the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in Geneva. The same applies to uncleared ammunition at military firing ranges and abandoned ammunition depots, which are often created in remote areas, Tollefsen told the German Press Agency.

has/dpa