Southern Europe Roasts as Temperatures Soar

France, Italy, Portugal and Spain have been sweltering for several days as the mercury climbed to 44 degrees Celsius in some places.

"This is unprecedented," Agnes Pannier-Runacher, France's ecology transition minister said as a record 84 of the nation's 96 mainland departments were placed on the second-highest "orange” heat alert.

Only a small sliver of the country in the northwest was not sweltering, according to the Meteo France weather service, which said the heatwave was due to peak today and tomorrow.

The summer's first major heatwave has seen authorities in the countries along the Mediterranean's northern coast urging people to seek shelter.

Ambulances stood on standby near tourist hotspots as experts warned that such heatwaves, intensified by climate change, would become more frequent.

Firefighters were on standby after blazes broke out on June 29 in France and Türkiye, fed by the heat and strong winds.

Already last week, Greek firefighters had to battle a forest blaze on the coast south of Athens that forced some evacuations.

Spain's weather service AEMET said temperatures in Extremadura and Andalusia, in the south and southwest, had reached up to 44C on June 29.

In Madrid, where temperatures approached 40C, 32-year-old photographer Diego Radames told AFPTV: "I feel that the heat we're experiencing is not normal for this time of year.”

In Italy, 21 cities across the length of the country were on high alert for extreme heat, including Milan, Naples, Venice, Florence, Rome and Catania.

"We were supposed to be visiting the Colosseum, but my mum nearly fainted," said British tourist Anna Becker, who had traveled to Rome from a "muggy, miserable" Verona.

Hospital emergency departments across Italy have reported a 10-percent increase in heatstroke cases, according to Mario Guarino, vice president of the Italian Society of Emergency Medicine.

"It is mainly elderly people, cancer patients or homeless people, presenting with dehydration, heat stroke, fatigue," he told AFP.

Several areas in the southern half of Portugal, including Lisbon, were under a red warning until Monday night, said the Portuguese Institute for Sea and Atmosphere (IPMA).

Two-thirds of Portugal was also on high alert Sunday for extreme heat and forest fires, as was the Italian island of Sicily, where firefighters tackled 15 blazes on June 28.

Scientists say climate change is stoking hotter and more intense heatwaves, particularly in cities where the so-called "urban heat island" effect amplifies temperatures among tightly packed buildings.

In France, experts warned that the heat was also severely hitting biodiversity.

Source: HDN