Greece: Thousands evacuated from Corfu as forest fires rage

Greek authorities brought nearly 2,500 people on the Greek island of Corfu to safety on Monday as forest fires blazed during a major heat wave.

The evacuation took place as firefighting crews across Greece worked to contain 82 wildfires, including 64 that began on Sunday, which has been the hottest day in the country so far this year.

Temperatures in Greece in the past week have gone over 40 Celsius (104 F) in many regions, with more hot weather forecast for the coming days.

Huge evacuation operations

The operation on Corfu comes after some 19,000 people were evacuated from several locations on the island of Rhodes in what was described by police as the biggest fire evacuation ever in Greece.

A spokesman for the fire department on Corfu, Yannis Artopios, told the AFP news agency that fires were ablaze in the north of the island.

He sad 2,466 people had been evacuated between Sunday and Monday, but no houses or hotels had been destroyed so far.

Rhodes and Corfu are among Greece's top tourist destinations and are particularly popular with visitors from Britain and Germany.

Greece is highly prone to deadly forest fires in the summer months.

However, scientists say that climate change driven by human-made greenhouse gas pollution is contributing to heat and drought in many southern European countries, creating tinderbox conditions.

Source: DW