Ankara: Forest fires fanned by high winds and hot, dry weather damaged some holiday homes in Turkey as a lingering heat wave covering much of Europe led authorities to raise warnings and tourists to find ways to beat the heat on Monday.
A heat dome hovered over France, Portugal and Spain to Turkey, while data from European forecasters suggested other countries were set to broil further in coming days.
Heat warnings were issued for parts of Spain, Portugal, Italy, Germany, and the UK, with new highs
expected on Wednesday before rain is forecast to bring respite to some areas later
this week.
“Extreme heat is no longer a rare event — it has become the new normal,” UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres tweeted from Seville, Spain, where temperatures hit 42 degrees Celsius on Monday.
Reiterating his frequent calls for action to fight climate change, Guterres added: “The planet is getting hotter & more dangerous — no country is immune.”
In Portugal — his home country — a reading of 46.6 C was registered in Mora, about 100 km east of Lisbon.
Weather officials were working to confirm whether that marked a new record for June.
Portuguese authorities issued a red heat warning Monday for seven of 18 districts as temperatures were forecast to hit 43 C.