Greece is being hit by its worst heatwave in more than 30 years, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said on Monday as temperatures reached 45°C in some regions.
“We are facing the worst heatwave since 1987… [causing] a burden on the electricity network,” Mitsotakis said after a meeting with officials of the Greek electricity distribution operator, Admie.
The heatwave is expected to peak early this week.
The country’s July 1987 heatwave to which the PM referred killed more than 1,000 people.
Mitsotakis added the authorities “were doing everything possible to deal with the situation” and urged users to “limit their consumption especially at the beginning of the afternoon and during the night”.
The weather services forecast temperatures of 40°C to 42°C on the islands and 41°C to 43°C on the mainland for Monday and Tuesday, with highs of 44°C to 45°C in the Peloponnese and Thessaly.
In Athens, temperatures will exceed 40°C, with highs of 43°C and lows of 31°C, according to the Greek meteorological services.
Fires that broke out last weekend were in recession on Monday but firefighters continued to work to control them.
“In July we had 1,584 fires against 953 in 2019,” said Deputy Minister of Civil Protection Nikos Hardalias on Star TV, estimating that “we are no longer talking about climate change but about a climate threat”.
“We are in a phase of absolute climatic deregulation”, he also said on public television ERT, specifying that “in the last 48 hours, we have had 116 fires” in Greece.
Meanwhile, at least eight people have died in Turkey as wildfires spread in the touristic Southern part of the country with the European Union and other nations promising water-dropping planes to help.
