From Athens to Zagreb: this is how Europe groans under the heat 2,100-year-old Celtic gold treasure stolen and melted down – four men in custody

Six dead and more than 200 injured are the result of severe storms in the Balkans and parts of northern Italy on Thursday night.

While hurricanes raged there and fist-sized hailstones fell, the weather was warm in central and southern Italy – and Greece is preparing for as much as 45 degrees over the weekend. However, three large forest fires were brought under control.

The severe storms in the Croatian capital Zagreb killed two people and two more died in other parts of the country, Croatian television HRT reported. A woman has died in northern Bosnia. More than 100 people were injured across Croatia, 60 in Zagreb alone, the portal “jutarnji.hr” wrote Thursday morning. In Serbia, the storm triggered more than 200 firefighting operations. And in the small town of Bled, in the foothills of the Slovenian Alps, a tree uprooted by a storm fell on a young couple. The woman died on the spot, the man suffered serious injuries, the news portal “24ur.si” reported.

Fist-sized hailstones have wreaked havoc in parts of northern Italy. About 110 people were injured by hail, glass splinters and falls during the storm, Veneto region president Luca Zaia said Thursday morning.

However, the storm was only one side of the Italian weather. Some very high temperatures were measured in southern Italy on Thursday after the high pressure area “Caronte” peaked on Wednesday. In the capital Rome it was 36 to 37 degrees, in the south of Apulia and in Sardinia and Sicily the 40 degree limit broke again in some areas. From next week, parts of Italy are expected to become very hot again, as the private weather service “ilmeteo.it” predicted.

In Greece it is already Friday: the third heat wave of this summer, with temperatures above 40 degrees in some places, should continue at least until Monday. Some meteorologists even predict that the high temperatures will continue until the end of July. At a press conference on Thursday, doctors from the Ministry of Health issued an urgent warning about the dangers of heat: the elderly and small children are particularly at risk, as are sick and obese people. In general, one should not spend the afternoon hours outside in the scorching heat.

But because the wind also died down in Greece on Thursday, the fire brigade was able to achieve success: the first major forest fires of the year, two near Athens and one on the island of Rhodes, were brought under control. However, authorities are already warning that the risk of wildfires will continue to increase given the renewed heat and prolonged drought.

Extreme heat waves are increasing due to climate change. The earth has already warmed up by about 1.1 degrees compared to pre-industrial times, in Germany that is even 1.6 degrees. According to research by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the fatal consequences are: depending on the region, more and longer heat waves and droughts or more frequent floods and hurricanes. (cst/sda/dpa)