At least 102 people have died in the first extreme heat wave of the year that began last Saturday in Spain , according to the country's All-Cause Daily Mortality Monitoring System (MoMo), while the alert for stifling heat continues in 12 of the 17 regions, extreme temperatures and locally very strong thunderstorms, the state meteorological agency Amet reports on its website.

In six months since the beginning of the year, the MoMo system has recorded at least 380 deaths in Spain attributable to high temperatures .

In provinces of Andalusia, such as Cordoba, Seville and Jaén, in the south of the Iberian Peninsula, where the alert is orange - for significant risk - the mercury will exceed 42 degrees . While the anomalous heat continues to claim victims, at least 4 in the last 48 hours, Amet predicts peaks between 38° and 39° in the northern region of Castile and Leon, over 40° in the central region of Castile-La Mancha and in the Community of Madrid.

The heat wave, well above seasonal averages and at unprecedented levels in the month of June, which began last Saturday, is also persisting in the autonomous communities of Extremadura, Cantabria, La Rioja, Asturias and Galicia, in the central-northern part of the peninsula.

Greece is also in the grip of heat and fires, in particular the island of Crete where a huge fire has been raging since yesterday afternoon in Lasithi, the easternmost tip of the island .

"The wind gusts reaching 9 degrees Beaufort are constantly creating spots and new fires, making the work of the firefighters difficult," the police say. According to the president of the Hotel Association of Ierapetra and Southeastern Crete, Giorgos Tzarakis, "around 5,000 people have been evacuated, mostly foreign visitors."

Hundreds of tourists spent the night at the indoor sports field in Ierapetra . The flames burned throughout the night through agricultural and forest land and are said to have reached some houses and greenhouses: according to the deputy governor of the Lasithi region, Yannis Androulakis, there are reports of burned properties but the number is not yet known.

A total of 230 firefighters are employed on site with 46 vehicles and ten helicopters .

(Online Union)

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