(Rome) “We sweat like hell”: as in the Vatican, tens of millions of people are facing a heat wave which persists on Sunday in the Northern hemisphere, with violent fires in California but also exceptional bad weather in Asia, news illustration of global warming.
In Europe, where global warming is progressing at a rate twice as fast as the global average according to experts, several countries are suffering.
“I really struggle with the heat. I bought a mini fan, an umbrella and bottles of water,” lamented Lilu Da Costa Rosa, a 48-year-old Brazilian saleswoman who came from Lyon to visit Rome where the thermometer reached 34°C at 1:30 p.m. local time. (7:30 a.m. Eastern Time).
In Italy, 16 cities are on red alert across the country, with expected temperatures of 36/37 ° C, but temperatures felt close to 40.
Regardless of the heat, there were still 15,000 pilgrims and tourists, according to the Vatican gendarmerie, massing in Saint Peter’s Square on Sunday to listen to Pope Francis recite the Angelus prayer.
PHOTO TIZIANA FABI, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
People stand in St. Peter’s Square during the Angelus prayer at the Vatican on July 16.
Among them, François Mbemba, a 29-year-old priest in the diocese of Kenge near Kinshasa. He says: “This heat continues into the night, we have trouble sleeping. And we who are dressed in black, we sweat like hell. »
“It’s hard to adapt, it’s hotter than in Africa, in the Democratic Republic of Congo,” he says.
“Burn it all up”
Spain is at the start of a new heat wave, after a sweltering week whose consequences were felt on the island of La Palma in the Canary Islands, where a fire ravaged 5,000 hectares of land this weekend. end and forced the evacuation of 4,000 people.
“I feel helpless watching everything burn, two entire villages being evacuated,” said Patricia Sanchez, 37, a member of the Spanish Red Crescent. In this island, devastated by a volcanic eruption in 2021 which had forced the populations to move, “people who have already lost everything because of the volcano [Tajogaite] and who had to rebuild their lives in the north of the island, […] risk losing everything again,” worries the rescuer.
In Romania, temperatures will be around 39 degrees on Monday across most of the country.
Germany is not spared: Saturday, the highest temperatures were measured in the Bavarian town of Möhrendorf-Kleinseebach (37.9 degrees), while it was 35 ° C in Berlin and 34 ° C in Munich .
PHOTO MICHAEL PROBST, ASSOCIATED PRESS
Horses rest under a tree in Wehrheim, near Frankfurt, Germany, on July 16.
In Greece, where temperatures are expected to drop slightly, authorities have finally decided that the Acropolis of Athens will remain closed to the public on Sunday only between 1 p.m. and 5 p.m. local time (10 a.m. to 10 a.m. Eastern time) and not from 11:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. as announced on Saturday evening.
Local authorities urged people to be careful and warned of the high risk of fires.
Fires
In the United States, “an oppressive and extremely dangerous heat wave is expected to hit the West this weekend, as well as certain places in the South”, alerted the National Weather Service (NWS).
In California’s famous Death Valley, the thermometer soared to 51°C on Saturday evening, while 54°C is expected on Sunday.
PHOTO REUTERS
A sign displays the maximum temperature in Death Valley, California, United States, on July 15.
In addition to the high temperatures, southern California is burning due to several very violent fires still in progress, which have already ravaged more than 1214 hectares and led to the evacuation of the population.
PHOTO DAVID SWANSON, AGENCE FRANCE PRESSE
A firefighter watches a controlled burn as the Rabbit Fire scorched more than 7,500 acres in Moreno Valley, Riverside County, California on July 15.
Other parts of the United States are at risk of severe weather.
“Strong to violent thunderstorms, heavy rain and flooding are possible in many places, particularly and unfortunately in New England, already saturated” by recent rainfall, according to the National Weather Service.
In Canada, more than 10 million hectares have already burned this year, a total far greater than anything the country has ever known, according to a report which remains provisional with 906 fires still active on Saturday in the country, including 570 considered outside. control, according to national figures from the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Center (CIFFC).
“Walking is exhausting”
Japan issued heat stroke alerts on Sunday for tens of millions of its inhabitants, living in 20 of the country’s 47 prefectures, as near-record temperatures hit much of the country.
In Tokyo, where the temperature reaches 36°C, “just walking around is exhausting”, admits Coline Grison, 24, a tourist from France. “We sweat without doing anything,” she told AFP.
PHOTO RICHARD A. BROOKS, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
A man cools off at a public splash pad in a park in eastern Tokyo, Japan on July 16.
“As it’s hot, I think we need to be aware and stay locked up as much as possible,” said Anthony Fernandez, 29, from the United States.
“I have the impression that each time we visit a place, there is either a heat wave or a natural disaster”, regrets the Texan tourist.
The country is also facing torrential rains which have killed at least eight people, including a man found dead on Saturday in a flooded car in the North.
In South Korea, rescuers struggle to reach people trapped in a flooded tunnel after heavy rains in recent days have left at least 33 dead and ten missing.
PHOTO AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
Rescue workers search for missing people near a bus along a flooded road leading to an underground tunnel in Cheongju, South Korea, on July 16.
The weather services of China have issued several warning messages, predicting temperatures that can reach 45 ° C in the partially desert region of Xinjiang, and 39 ° C in the southern region of Guangxi.
Heat is one of the deadliest weather events, the World Meteorological Organization recently recalled. Last summer in Europe alone, high temperatures caused more than 60,000 deaths, according to a recent study.