Even if the fires are under control in some Mediterranean countries, there are new dangers. While the fires in Turkey are waning, a flood is wreaking havoc.
Istanbul / Moscow – Shortly after the relaxation in many forest fire areas, numerous people were killed by a flood in northern Turkey.
So far, 31 people have died in connection with floods in the Black Sea region. Ten people would be treated in the hospital, said the civil protection agency Afad on Friday. In Italy, a fire in the east of the capital Rome triggers evacuations. Forests continue to burn in Algeria. The situation in Greece has eased, at least for the time being.
The three provinces of Bartin, Kastamonu and Sinop are particularly hard hit by the floods in Turkey. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan traveled to Kastamonu on Friday and said the destroyed places would be replaced by “better ones”. Heavy rains flooded many places. Several collapsed buildings and destroyed streets were shown on television images from the region. Muddy brown floods tore cars with it, among other things, and several bridges collapsed.
According to media reports, the water was five meters high in some places. Among other things, around 5,000 emergency services and 19 helicopters are involved in the rescue work, supported by non-governmental organizations and the military. Further rains in the Black Sea region were announced for Friday.
Almost all fires extinguished in Algeria
In Algeria, almost all fires in the particularly badly affected region of Tizi Ouzou have now been completely extinguished, as the civil protection authority of the North African country announced on Friday. The employees continued to monitor the situation in the region. Dozens of fires are still being extinguished in other regions. According to the authority, a total of at least 124 forest fires have broken out in the North African country so far. At least 49 civilians and more than 20 soldiers have died so far, as the state news agency APS reported.
Nature reserve near Rome
In the event of forest fires near the Italian capital Rome, the fire brigade brought around 25 families from three apartment blocks to safety. The fire affected the Monte Catillo nature reserve in the north of the city of Tivoli, as the fire department announced on Friday morning. The flames penetrated into the vicinity of residential areas during the night. On Friday morning, the firefighters were in action with seven units and one fire engine. Italy has been hit by violent forest fires for more than two weeks. The flames blaze especially in the south and on the large islands of Sicily and Sardinia. So far, four people have died in connection with the forest fires.
Fires under control in Greece
For the first time in days, the fires in Greece are now under control or even extinguished to a large extent in all regions of the country. The Greek civil defense announced this on Friday morning. Only in the mountainous region of Gortynia on the Peloponnese peninsula are there repeatedly smaller fires, which are quickly put out by the emergency services. The fire brigade warned, however, that the danger was not over: in many cases, the undergrowth was still smoldering and new fires could break out. It is estimated that more than 100,000 hectares of forest, scrub and agricultural land were destroyed in the severe fires in August.
Toxic substances in the air in Russia
The devastating forest fires in Russia are increasingly becoming a health hazard for people. In the particularly affected region of Yakutia (Republic of Sakha) in the north-east of the country, the maximum permissible concentration of harmful substances in the air was sometimes exceeded by a factor of twenty, the radio station Echo Moskwy reported on Friday based on official measurements. According to this, 8 out of 16 pollutants such as carbon monoxide and sulfur dioxide were exceeded.
Villages and cities in the region have been drowning in smoke for days. According to the operator, there are cancellations and delays at the airport in the city of Yakutsk due to poor visibility. The authorities had announced a day off for Friday so that people would not be outdoors. The smoke was already moving thousands of kilometers west inland to over the Urals and Mongolia. Yakutsk is about 4800 kilometers from the capital. dpa
