Breaking: Another Huge Wildfire Strikes, Prompting Evacuation of Thousands

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This summer has seen a number of ferocious wildfires rage across Europe, with the Spanish holiday island of Tenerife being the latest to suffer from the devastating blazes.

Five villages have been evacuated and roads closed as firefighters desperately try to contain the flames in the area’s Corona Forestal national park.

With pine trees fueling its spread, authorities are worried that it could reach nearby tourist hotspots such as Puerto de la Cruz and Santa Cruz de Tenerife.

This is just one example of how extreme weather due to climate change is threatening lives and economies all over Europe.

Climate change has had an undeniable effect on the weather conditions in Europe this summer, leading to numerous wildfires, floods and storms across many countries in the region.

Southern European countries such as Portugal and Greece experience fires most summers, but hotter temperatures are pushing severe wildfire risk north into places like Germany, Slovenia and Czech Republic.

In stark contrast northern Italy and Scandinavia have also suffered from devastating floods and storms, illustrating just how unpredictable these climatic events can be.

Climate scientists say heat waves are more intense, more frequent and longer because of climate change —combined with droughts this makes fighting wildfires even harder.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said last month during a visit to Extremadura that climate change “kills people, it kills our ecosystems and biodiversity” – clearly highlighting how different parts of Europe are struggling against this phenomenon at different levels depending on their geographic location within the continent.

The Canary Islands were recently hit by a heatwave which left many areas bone dry further increasing risk of wildfires, prompting emergency services to issue warnings for residents in affected areas.

In France thousands were forced to flee homes in British tourist hotspot Pyrenees-Orientales after 500 hectares were destroyed by raging infernos.

Horrified Zak Dhabalia who witnessed first hand how quickly they spread said it was “an extraordinary and terrifying experience”.

Further south Spain’s popular holiday island Rhodes was ravaged by 11 days worth of uncontrollable flames forcing thousands into evacuation.

This left them wondering what economic impact this will have on their vital tourism sector which fuels around 20% of Greece’s economy alike other Mediterranean destinations such as Italy & Spain where tourists have cancelled holidays due to extreme heat waves & fire threats respectively – proving yet again that uncontrolled fires can be financially damaging too.

In Italy two women were killed while scouting back in May when heavy flooding occurred tearing through homes.

Desperate people clambered onto roofs while others swam through streets past sunken cars trying to reach higher ground.

An image similar yet not so extreme compared two scenes witnessed near Turin where a ‘mud tsunami’ crashed through streets sending people running for their lives. Severe storms also battered northern Italy killing three including a 16 year old girl scout crushed by a falling tree while roofs were torn off and hundreds of trees were uprooted in Milan leaving roads blocked with debris throughout city center.

Additionally, a 135mph tornado toppled construction crane Switzerland while Norway Sweden experienced landslides flooding communities.

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