‘Hellishly hot’: Southern Europe bakes under heat wave, worst still to come as temperatures top 104F

Rome: The Italian health ministry placed 12 cities under the most severe heat warning on Tuesday as a wave of hot air from Africa baked southern Europe and sent temperatures over 40 degrees Celsius (104F), with the worst still to come.

Municipal authorities in several southern European and Balkan cities took measures to look after elderly people in particular as civil protection crews fielded calls for Canadairs and other aircraft to douse wildfires that raged in southern Italy and North Macedonia.

“It’s hellishly hot,” said Carmen Diaz, a tourist from Madrid who was trying to keep cool with a fan at lunchtime in Rome. “These fans help a little too, but it’s really hot.”

In Greece, municipalities made air conditioned spaces available to the public. Certain forms of outdoor work were banned, such as manual labour, deliveries and construction, during the hottest time of the day when temperatures reached 40 degrees Celsius.

Temperatures were expected to hit 42 degrees Celsius on Wednesday and Thursday in several countries. Spain’s national weather service said thermometers could reach 44 degrees Celsius in the southern Guadalquivir river basin in the coming days.

To beat the heat, Rome’s zoo made plans to offer popsicle respite for the animals later this week when temperatures were expected to top 38 degrees Celsius.

For those flocking to the Eternal City’s Coldplay concerts this week, there were no such icy treats. “It really feels like we are in an oven with a hair dryer pointed at us,” said Patrizia Valerio, who had just arrived in Rome from Varese for the band’s final performance Tuesday night.

Fellow concert-goer Mattia Rossi was more philosophical, noting that the freak storms that hit Italy earlier this summer as evidence of climate change wreaking havoc on the southern Mediterranean’s weather systems.

“These are all symptoms of a planet that is suffering in my opinion,” Rossi said.

In Albania, where temperatures were expected to hit 42 degrees Celsius, a 72-year-old man was found dead at his farm in Memaliaj, 200 kilometers (125 miles) south of the capital Tirana and the cause of the death is believed to be the heat, the local Panorama portal reported.