Greece is continuing to battle wildfires that have destroyed homes and sparked evacuations for a second day.
Fires were still raging Sunday morning in the Peloponnese area west of the capital, as well as on the islands of Evia and Kythera, with aircraft and helicopters resuming their work in several parts of the country at dawn.
“Today is expected to be a difficult day with a very high risk of fire, almost throughout the territory”, fire brigade spokesman Vassilis Vathrakogiannis said, though he added that the situation was improving.
Tourist island Kythera ‘half burned’
Forecasters predicted the strong winds that have fanned the flames would die down later on Sunday in most areas but warned that Kythera, an popular tourist island with 3,600 inhabitants, continued to face “worrying” windy conditions.
When the blaze began on Saturday morning it forced the evacuation of a popular tourist beach.
On Sunday morning evacuation messages were sent to people on the island, which lies off the south-eastern tip of the Peloponnese, with half of the island having been burnt according to the deputy mayor of Kythera, Giorgos Komninos.
“Houses, beehives, olive trees have been burnt,” Komninos told state-run ERT News channel. “A monastery is in direct danger right now.”
Dozens of firefighters, including units frim the Czech Republic, were supported by three helicopters and two aircraft. Two Italian aircraft are expected to assist later on Sunday.
Multiple regions at high risk of fires
According to officials, eleven regions of Greece still face a very high fire risk. There were numerous flare-ups overnight on the island of Evia, near Athens, where the flames have laid waste to swathes of forest and killed thousands of farm animals.
Workers have been trying since dawn to repair serious damage to Evia’s electricity network and some villages were facing problems with water supply.
Further south on Crete, reports said fires that broke out on Saturday afternoon and destroyed four houses and a church but had now largely been contained.
Meanwhile, police were reportedly bolstering forces in Kryoneri, north of Athens, with fears looters could target houses abandoned by their owners fleeing a fire that erupted on Saturday afternoon but that was mostly contained on Sunday.
Consistent extreme weather across country
Greece has endured heatwave conditions for almost a week, with temperatures passing 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit) in many areas.
On Saturday, the temperature reached 45.2C in Amfilohia but the extreme heat is expected to lessen from Monday.
Last month, fires on Greece’s fifth-biggest island Chios, in the northern Aegean, destroyed 4,700 hectares (11,600 acres) of land, while earlier in July a wildfire on Crete forced the evacuation of 5,000 people.
The most destructive year for wildfires was 2023, when nearly 175,000 hectares were lost and there were 20 deaths.
Edited by: Saim Dušan Inayatullah
