Athens, Jul 24 (EFE).- Greece on Monday evacuated 25 more towns on the Corfu and Euboea Islands as the devastating wildfires have been raging on several Islands now for a week.
On the Rhodes island, where the fires have continued for a week, the blazes spiked again on Monday morning due to strong winds, threatening the nearby Asklipio village in the south of the island.
The devastating forest fires have forced the evacuation of some 19,000 people in Rhodes over the weekend, including 6,000 tourists.
Some 270 firefighters with 55 vehicles, 4 water-dropping planes and 3 tanker helicopters have been trying to contain the fire on the Island.
The wildfire has scorched swathes of dense forest, killed thousands of animals as well damaged several houses and hotels on the island.
On Corfu sland, authorities overnight evacuated 18 towns where some 60 firefighters with 21 firetrucks, two helicopters and two planes have been striving to douse the fire since Sunday.
Meanwhile, fanned by strong winds, another major fire is raging out of control on the Euboea Island, northeast of Athens
Authorities have so far evacuated seven villages around the coastal town of Karistos.
More than 100 firefighters were fighting a fourth wildfire on the Peloponnese peninsula, near the town of Egio.
On Sunday, the fire forced the evacuation of several villages and disrupted local traffic on the peninsula.
The an intense heatwave that has Greece in its grip on Sunday shot the temperature up to 46.4 degree Celsius, the highest temperature in the country since records began in 2006.
Although the temperature dropped on Monday compared to the weekend across Greece, forecasters expect it to rise above 40 degrees Celsius again over the next couple of days amid the heatwave. EFE
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