Corfu latest Greek island to evacuate over wildfires
24-07-2023, 08:23

Font size: [ A+ ] / [ A- ]

Corfu has become the latest Greek island to issue an evacuation order, as the country grapples with wildfires.

Photos uploaded to social media show flames engulfing Corfu. A fire broke out on the northern part of the island which is popular with British tourists.

It comes after some 19,000 people were evacuated on the island of Rhodes, which has also been hit by fires.

Many were forced to flee their hotels as the flames continued to spread from the centre of the Greek island.

Greece has been grappling with searing heat, with temperatures exceeding 40C across the country, and fires have blazed for nearly a week in some areas.

A national holiday that had been planned for Monday has been cancelled "in view of the extraordinary conditions prevailing in the country due to the fires", the Greek presidency said.

Late on Sunday evening Greece's Emergency Communications Service published evacuation orders for a number of areas of Corfu.

People in the areas of Santa, Megoula, Porta, Palia, Perithia and Sinies on the island have been told to evacuate.

Boats in the area had been dispatched to evacuate residents by sea, a government official said.

Corfu - sits in the Ionian sea off the northwest of Greece - is a destination popular with tourists, with hundreds of thousands Brits visiting every year.

Rhodes - an island some 1,027km (670 miles) away - has been battling wildfires fanned by strong winds since Tuesday and after smoke started enveloping tourist areas.

Some 16,000 people were evacuated by land and 3,000 by sea on the island, according to local officials. Greece's Ministry of Climate Change and Civil Protection said it was "the largest evacuation from a wildfire in the country".

Thousands of holidaymakers were camped out at Rhodes airport on Sunday, waiting for a flight to get out. Konstantia Dimoglidou, a Greek police spokeswoman, told the AFP news agency that more than 30,000 people have been evacuated across the country so far.

Some tourists said they walked for miles in scorching heat to reach safety. Dead animals have been seen in the road near burnt-out cars.

Holiday company Jet2 has now cancelled five flights to Rhodes, while Tui cancelled all flights there until Wednesday.

The first repatriation flights to take Britons back home are due to arrive on Rhodes. EasyJet will operate two rescue flights with a total of 421 seats on Monday, and a third on Tuesday, in addition to its nine scheduled flights to the island.

Meanwhile, the UK Foreign Office says a five-strong rapid deployment team is in Rhodes, along with four Red Cross workers, to assist British nationals and support travel operators in bringing people home.

At least three hotels have been destroyed in the dense forest area of Kiotari on the east of Rhodes.

The deputy mayor of Rhodes, Athanasios Vyrinis said some people had slept in cardboard boxes overnight and warned that there were not enough essentials.

Greece's fire service has warned the situation could worsen as further villages require evacuation and that the battle to contain the flames could take several days. 260 firefighters, backed by 18 aircraft, were battling the fire on Sunday.

Six people were briefly taken to hospital with respiratory problems and were later released.

Emergency services have also been dealing with fires on the island of Evia, east of Athens and Aigio, southwest of Athens. Homes have already been lost to the wildfires on Rhodes and other areas.

Climate change increases the risk of the hot, dry weather that is likely to fuel wildfires. The world has already warmed by about 1.1C since the industrial era began and temperatures will keep rising unless governments around the world make steep cuts to carbon emissions.

Spain and Italy are among the Mediterranean countries which have also experienced intense heat this week, while parts of the US are also seeing records broken.

 

BBC

Comments: 802
#442   Barney
      
Feel free to surf to my web blog :: zanelesilvia.woodw.orthwww.gnu-darwin.org

Feel free to visit my webpage Complete RTP database For PG Soft slots
6 December 2025 18:42
#441   Marjorie
      
Ships in EVE ships change, new ships are released routinely and because of this what may be
thought-about a glorious miner nowadays could effectively not be as excellent tomorrow.


Look at my website; หนังโป็ญี่ปุ่น
6 December 2025 08:06
#440   Kina
      
Feel free to surf to my webpage; highstake
6 December 2025 04:42
#439   Lynda
      
Visit my blog post Highstakes Sweeps
5 December 2025 17:05
#438   Clarita
      
The velocity at which the arduous drives platters spin. ‘future tech’
then. As is QLC reminiscence, which presents each worth and capability, and could spell the tip for spinning
platters in our PCs as soon as the tech matures.

Here is my web-site: หลุดvk
5 December 2025 15:17
#437   Garry
      
Feel free to surf to my site: Hacksaw gaming games – Play for real
money
4 December 2025 23:58
#436   Sherlene
      
Great site you have here.. It's hard to find high
quality writing like yours these days. I honestly appreciate people like you!

Take care!!

Look into my website ... fitness ring
4 December 2025 23:47
#435   Danny
      
Here is my site :: Poker stakes
4 December 2025 12:27
#433   Santiago
      
4 December 2025 08:55
#432   Precious
      
Thank you a lot for giving everyone an extremely spectacular chance to read critical reviews
from this blog. It's always so brilliant and stuffed with amusement for me personally and my office fellow workers to
search your site the equivalent of three times in a week to
study the newest tips you have got. And indeed, I'm always
motivated with your surprising thoughts served by you. Some 4 facts on this page are in truth the most impressive we have all had.


Here is my web site top ten poker sites, https://calm-shadow-f1b9.626266613.workers.dev/,

my web-site ... Hacksaw Gaming slots & RTP Guide
4 December 2025 08:44
#431   Merry
      
Here is my web-site ... Highstakes Casino Download
3 December 2025 11:39
#430   Kara
      
WOW just what I was searching for. Came here by searching for Visit US

Feel free to surf to my homepage: More information (Trey)
3 December 2025 09:17
#429   Tiffani
      
3 December 2025 02:43
#428   Carlota
      
2 December 2025 22:28
#427   Kian
      
2 December 2025 20:57
#426   Ramonita
      
2 December 2025 01:25
#425   Napoleon
      
hello!,I really like your writing very so much!
percentage we communicate more approximately your article
on AOL? I require a specialist in this area to
solve my problem. May be that is you! Looking ahead
to peer you.

Feel free to surf to my blog; lesbian porn sex videos
1 December 2025 16:30
#424   Ouida
      
Also visit my blog post :: GameBeat online slots with verified RTP
1 December 2025 11:18
#423   Violette
      
Take a look at my web page; Harold
1 December 2025 09:09
Add Comments

Name:*
E-Mail:
  Geo Keyboard  
 

Dear reader, guardian.ge welcomes your comments. Please express your views on topic and be respectful of others.

bold italic underline strike | align left centered align right | Ensert smilies insert linkInsert protected URL Choice the color | hidden text insert quote Convert selected text from transliteration to Cyrillic alphabet Insert spoiler

Code: *


Back1 ... 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 ... 41Next