IN IMAGES, IN PICTURES. Greece, Italy, the Balkans… Southern Europe battered by heat waves, floods and tornadoes

Extreme weather events are increasing in southern Europe. Thousands of people had to be evacuated from the island of Rhodes, Greece, because of the violent fire that has ravaged the area for six days. In Italy, after the heat wave of recent days, the north of the country is plagued by violent storms. The situation is also worrying in Croatia, Bosnia and Slovenia, where heavy rains caused the death of five people.

In Greece, tens of thousands of people have had to leave areas threatened by fires

While the country is undergoing an extraordinary heat wave, a violent fire, the origin of which has not been determined, ravages the island of Rhodes. In the middle of the tourist season, it led, on Saturday July 22, to the evacuation by boats of around 2,000 people and the sheltering of 30,000 others in gymnasiums, schools or conference centers for the night, according to the police quoted by the Greek press agency ANA. Among them, 3,000 people were evacuated by sea. These population movements were filmed by tourists and shared on social networks, such as in this video shared by Athens-based journalist Alexandros Kottis. It is “the largest evacuation operation ever carried out in Greece”according to Greek police spokesperson Konstantia Dimoglidou.

A crisis unit has also been opened in Athens by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to facilitate the repatriation of foreign tourists. Tour operator Tui decided to suspend passenger flights to Rhodes on Sunday. Temperatures exceeding 44°C are expected across the country on Sunday.

According to the National Meteorological Observatory, this country crosses “probably” the longest heat wave in its history, “sixteen to seventeen days”. The authorities have decided to close all archaeological sites, such as the Acropolis, during the hottest hours. “We need absolute vigilance (…) because the difficult times have not passed”, warned Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis on Friday. Greek firefighters recorded 46 new fires in 24 hours on Sunday.

In Italy, violent storms after the heat wave

After the hot weather, thunderstorms in the north of the country. In Milan, a tornado hit the northeast of the city late Friday morning, according to the Tornado in Italia website, which shared this video on its Facebook page. The site claims to have authenticated the video.

North of Milan, in the town of Seregno, “a river of hailstones” flooded the central street, according to this video published by the Corriere della sera on his Instagram account. Firefighters intervened a hundred times on Friday, according to the daily.

In the south of the country, the Italian meteorological agency predicts extreme temperatures, ranging from 45 to 47°C, “Start of the week” next. Temperatures around 40°C are also expected in Emilia-Romagna, a region in the center of the country.

Balkan storm kills three in Croatia

After days of scorching temperatures, violent storms hit Croatia, Slovenia and Bosnia on Wednesday. They caused the death of three people, according to the Croatian police.

In addition, electric poles were damaged, many roofs of houses were blown off by the strong winds and several streets were flooded, as shown in this photo by a journalist from the Anadolu Agency.

On Sunday, floods were filmed by the media Dnevni Avaz, 60km from Brcko, in Bosnia and Herzegovina.