Temperatures were expected to reach record highs in Italy yesterday as the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) warned of an increased risk of deaths as heat waves and extreme weather gripped parts of Europe, Asia and the US.
The Mediterranean island of Sardinia could see highs of more than 47°C and forecasters said temperatures could hit 40°C in several Italian cities, including 42°C to 43°C degrees in the Lazio region, which includes Rome.
With baking temperatures hitting Europe during the peak summer tourist season, the WMO said the heat wave in the northern hemisphere was set to intensify over the coming days and warned of an increased risk to health. An estimated 61,000 people could have died in heat waves last year in Europe alone.
Photo: Reuters
“Temperatures in North America, Asia, and across North Africa and the Mediterranean will be above 40°C for a prolonged number of days this week as the heatwave intensifies,” the WMO said.
Overnight minimum temperatures were also expected to reach new highs, the WMO said, creating the risk of an increase in heart attacks and deaths.
“Whilst most of the attention focuses on daytime maximum temperatures, it is the overnight temperatures which have the biggest health risks, especially for vulnerable populations,” it said.
Scientists have long warned that climate change, caused by greenhouse gas emissions mainly from burning fossil fuels, would make heat waves more frequent, severe and deadly. They say governments need to take drastic action to reduce emissions to prevent a climate catastrophe.
The EU’s Copernicus Climate Change Service says last year and 2021 were the continent’s hottest summers on record.
Europe’s highest recorded temperature of 48.8°C was registered in Sicily two years ago.
In Italy, tourists have tried to keep cool by splashing water on themselves from Rome’s fountains and standing under giant fans set up outside the Colosseum. Some were forced to line up for taxis for more than an hour in the scorching heat outside the central railway station in Rome due to the capital’s chronic shortage of taxis.
The Italian Ministry of Health yesterday issued red weather alerts — signaling a possible health threat for anyone exposed to the heat — for 20 of the nation’s 27 main cities, with the number expected to rise to 23 today.
The heat has prompted some travelers to go home early, such as Anita Elshoy and her husband, who returned to Norway from their favorite vacation spot of Vasanello, a village north of Rome, a week earlier than planned.
“[I] got a lot of pain in the head, legs and [my] fingers swelled up and I became more and more dizzy,” Elshoy said of her heat-related symptoms. “We were supposed to be there for two weeks, but we couldn’t [stay] because of the heat.”
In Spain, areas of the northeastern regions of Catalonia and Aragon, and the Mediterranean island of Mallorca were on alert for temperatures of 42°C to 44°C.
In Greece, authorities have told citizens close to a forest fire in Dervenochoria, north of Athens, to shut their doors and windows as smoke from the flames approached amid gale force winds.
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