Authorities throughout southern Europe have called on residents to stay indoors and safeguard those most at risk as scorching temperatures sweep across Spain, Portugal, Italy, and France during the summer’s first significant heatwave, reports RTE.
Emergency crews and ambulances were stationed near popular tourist areas, and several regions issued fire alerts as specialists cautioned that these extreme heat events, driven by climate change, would become increasingly common.
Temperatures were forecast to reach up to 43C in parts of southern Spain and Portugal, while almost all of France continued to endure high heat expected to persist for days, reports RTE.
In Italy, 21 cities, including Milan, Naples, Venice, Florence, and Rome, were placed on high alert for dangerous heat.
“We were supposed to be visiting the Colosseum, but my mum nearly fainted,” said British tourist Anna Becker, who had come to Rome from a “muggy, miserable” Verona, reports RTE.
Emergency rooms throughout Italy have noted a rise in heatstroke cases, according to Mario Guarino, Vice President of the Italian Society of Emergency Medicine, reports RTE.
“We’ve seen around a 10% increase, mainly in cities that not only have very high temperatures but also a higher humidity rate. It is mainly elderly people, cancer patients or homeless people, presenting with dehydration, heat stroke, fatigue,” he said, reports RTE.
Hospitals such as the Ospedale dei Colli in Naples have introduced special heatstroke pathways to ensure patients receive crucial treatments like cold water immersion more quickly, Mr Guarino said, reports RTE.
In Venice, officials provided free guided tours in air-conditioned museums and public spaces for people over 75.
Bologna has opened seven “climate shelters” equipped with air conditioning and drinking water, Florence has urged doctors to identify those who are isolated and at risk, Ancona is distributing dehumidifiers to people in need, and Rome is giving free entry to city swimming pools for residents over 70, reports RTE.
Experts warn that climate change is fueling more intense and prolonged heatwaves, especially in cities where the “urban heat island” effect pushes temperatures higher among densely built areas.
“The heat waves in the Mediterranean region have become more frequent and more intense in recent years, with peaks of 37C or even more in cities, where the urban heat island effect raises the temperatures even further,” said Emanuela Piervitali, a researcher at the Italian Institute for Environmental Protection and Research (ISPRA), reports RTE.
“A further increase in temperature and heat extremes is expected in the future, so we will have to get used to temperatures with peaks even higher than those we are experiencing now,” she said, reports RTE.
In Portugal, multiple regions in the southern part of the country, including the capital Lisbon, remain under a red heat warning until tomorrow night due to “persistently extremely high maximum temperature values,” according to the Portuguese Institute for Sea and Atmosphere (IPMA), reports RTE.
Roughly two-thirds of Portugal was under high alert for severe heat and wildfire risk, as was the Italian island of Sicily, where firefighters battled 15 fires yesterday.
In France, specialists cautioned that the extreme heat was also putting significant stress on biodiversity.
“With this stifling heat, the temperature can exceed 40C in some nests,” said President of the League for the Protection of Birds (LPO) Allain Bougrain-Dubourg. We are taking in birds in difficulty everywhere; our seven care centres are saturated,” he said, reports RTE.
The heat is also drawing invasive species, which are flourishing in the increasingly tropical conditions.
Italy’s ISPRA launched a campaign this week calling on fishermen and tourists to report any sightings of four “potentially dangerous” venomous species, reports RTE.
The lionfish, silver-cheeked toadfish, dusky spinefoot, and marbled spinefoot are starting to show up in waters off southern Italy as the Mediterranean Sea warms, it said.
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