Extreme weather wreaks havoc in Europe
From north to south, Europe is again battling extreme weather events, with floods in Slovenia, wildfires in Portugal, a heat wave in Spain and landslides in Norway. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen visited flood-hit Slovenia on Wednesday to offer EU support, as the situation remains dire in the southeastern European country. Meanwhile, Portugal is still racing to put off a series of wildfires amid a scorching heat wave in the Iberian peninsula, and southern Norway is seeing "record-high" flood levels. Here's an overview of some of the main headlines on extreme weather in Europe on Wednesday, August 9: Lorenzo Labrador, scientific officer at the UN's World Meteorological Organization, told DW that climate change increases the "severity" of extreme weather events. He said that while "it is hard to link any one event to climate change," shifts in the planet's climate increase "the possibility of these events occurring and the severity of them as well." Labrador said that the heatwaves and wildfires around the world were occurring "in the context of the hottest July ever recorded." "The temperatures in July were 0.72 degrees Celsius warmer than the 1991 to 2020 period and 1.5 degrees warmer than the pre-industrial era," he said. In light of the extreme weather, Labrador urged countries to "drastically reduce greenhouse gas emissions, particularly carbon emissions." "As the scientific community has agreed, we have about a seven year window of opportunity to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to about half of what they are now," he stressed. Besides reducing emissions, Labrador also recommended the implementation of "better warning systems" in order to "predict heatwaves and droughts and fires so that people are as prepared as possible to confront these events." A dam on the Gloma River in Norway collapsed after days of heavy flooding. The waterway is Norway's longest river. Water flowed out through a hole in the 45-year-old Braskereidfoss power dam created by the breach, TV images showed. The Halfslund utility company said that water appeared to flow in an orderly manner after the collapse. A police spokesperson said there were no immediate signs of major downstream flooding. Police had earlier considered blowing one of the hatches of the dam, but ultimately decided against the measure as the resulting explosion could have been difficult to control. Southern Norway saw landslides triggered by heavy rain overnight across the mountainous region, after authorities warned residents to prepare for "extremely heavy rainfall" and raised the flooding alert to red in several parts of the country. At least two people died since Storm Hans hit eastern Norway, and roofs were ripped off of houses. The Norwegian Water Resources and Energy Directorate said several roads were closed due to "record-high level" of floods or landslides, and evacuations continued throughout the night. Police said more than 600 people were evacuated in the Innlandet region, north of Oslo. Some 16 landslides, six floods and 12 incidences of damage to nature were reported there during the night. "We are in a crisis situation of national dimensions," Innlandet country Mayor Aud Hove said. "People are isolated in several local communities, and the emergency services risk not being able to reach people who need help." On Thursday afternoon, a dam on the Glama river, Norway's longest river, partially collapsed. Authorities had considered blowing up part of the dam, where the Braskereidfoss hydroelectric power plant is under water and out of operation. The move was an attempt to prevent downstream communities from getting deluged. "When there is so much water, we can perhaps imagine, in the worst case, a kind of tidal wave coming sailing down the river," police spokeswoman Merete Hjerto told Norwegian broadcaster NRK. Parts of Scandinavia and the Baltics have been battered by Storm Hans, which hit Sweden late on Sunday and reached Norway on Monday. The Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute (SMHI) also issued a red warning on Tuesday for parts of central Sweden, warning of "very large amounts of rain causing extremely high flows in streams and ditches in several places." European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced that Slovenia will have access to 100 million ($110 million) this year from the EU's Solidarity Fund and 300 million in 2024. "It is so important to see firsthand and with my own eyes the massive impact of this disaster," she said during a joint press conference with Prime Minister Robert Golob in the badly hit town of Crna na Koroskem, near the Austrian border. "And it was heartbreaking to see the devastation that the rain and the flooding and the mudslides have caused," von der Leyen added. Besides the Solidarity Fund, Slovenia can also seek help from the 2.7 billion Generation EU fund, von der Leyen said, adding that 3.3 billion in other EU funds already allocated to Slovenia can be repurposed for support after the floods. Golob had initially spoken of damage amounting to at least 500 million ($549 million), but recently raised the estimate to several billion euros. "Dozens of thousands of houses have been hit by flooding and now dozens of thousands of people are thinking how to survive the next weeks and months," Golob said. To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video Since late Friday, Slovenia has been hit by heavy rains and subsequent flooding , forcing the evacuations of villages and submerging roads and train tracks. At least six people have been reported dead in the catastrophe. The CEO of German travel firm TUI presented the company's third-quarter results on Wednesday. The world's largest travel group said that northern hemisphere summer bookings were 6% higher than a year ago, despite extreme heat waves and wildfires engulfing Mediterranean travel destinations . The results showed that 5.5 million people traveled with TUI between April and June, up from 5.1 million a year earlier, and revenues grew by more than 19% to 5.3 billion ($5.8 billion). This marks the company's first profitable third quarter since the start of the coronavirus pandemic. CEO Sebastian Ebel said the summer this year is "going very well and demand for holidays remains high." "The heat wave in northern Europe in June and the wildfires in southern Europe have only dampened temporarily the previously strong development," he said. "Overall it will be a very good travel summer and a good year for TUI in 2023." Sweden's meteorological institute has issued its red-level warning for the country's west coast as large parts of the harbor in the second-largest city, Goteborg, were under water. The agency said "very large amounts of rain causing extremely high flows in streams" could be expected. Swedish Meteorologist Erik Hojgard-Olsen was quoted as saying by the Aftonbladet newspaper that such weather was unusual for this time of year. "It is exceptional to have such a low pressure [system] as [Storm] Hans, which has brought so much rain for several days in a row," he said. "Especially for being a summer month, it has lasted a long time," added the Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute meteorologist. Spain's weather agency, the AEMET, is expecting that temperatures would continue to rise at least until Friday, with some areas of the southern Andalusia region hitting 44 C (111 F). That is Spain's third heat wave this summer. According to Spanish officials, three wildfires had started over the weekend were brought under control by Tuesday. The biggest blaze was reported in Spain's northeast. Authorities said it burned about 600 hectares (1,500 acres) and required the evacuation of 150 people. In the country's southeast, near the border with Portugal, firefighters are still battling one fire, which forced the evacuation of about 20 people in rural hostels. To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video Three major blazes were raging in Portugal on Tuesday, with the biggest in the southwest near the town of Odemira. Portugal's National Civil Protection Service said about 1,000 firefighters, 320 vehicles and nine aircraft were deployed to fight the Odemira fire, which has scorched around 7,000 hectares (17,300 acres) at least. Nearly 1,500 people, residents as well as tourists, have been evacuated from the area . The latest series of wildfires comes as temperatures soar. The city of Santarem, about 80 kilometers (50 miles) northeast of Lisbon , set the record for the year's highest temperature on Monday at 46.4 C (115.5 F). DW correspondent Jan-Philipp Scholz, reporting from the Spanish city of Seville, said it was the "middle of an extreme heat wave," with weather forecasts predicting worse conditions as temperatures were set to reach 46 degrees Celsius (114.8 degrees Fahrenheit) "Either people are staying home all day, putting their air conditioning systems to maximum power, or they have fled the city already," Scholz added. Still, Seville is not the worst place to be in Spain at the moment. "In other towns, tap water has been cut for large parts of the day. Water trucks have to bring emergency waters, and, of course, there are wildfires in Spain and, of course, in neighboring Portugal," Scholz said. Officials are trying to offer some help, including providing water trucks, according to Scholz. But the Spanish national and regional governments are widely seen as not doing enough. "Besides those short-term measures, there are political discussions, for example, about the sustainability of industrial farming, which is the major water consumer here in Spain, especially for products like avocados and mangos." DW correspondent Rosie Birchard in the Slovenian flood-hit zone Sentjanz pri Dravogradu said the cleanup was underway as volunteers were working around the clock but noted that the situation remained dire. "We're seeing piles of mud and a real impact on people's lives and their belongings. Many of these towns are still really cut off," Birchard said. "We've been told that tens of thousands of people are still without access to fresh running water," she added. As European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen heads to Slovenia on Wednesday, Birchard said for Slovenians, any help that the EU can offer "can't come fast enough." Volunteers from several European countries have been working in the flood-hit regions. But Slovenia has called for helicopters, excavation equipment and more machinery to aid such efforts. "There is no shortage of goodwill or offers of help," Birchard said. "There's not even the infrastructure to match all these offers of volunteering. So [Slovenia is] looking for more trained volunteers... and of course, there will be questions about longer-term reconstruction." To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video fb/sms (AP, Reutes, AFP, DPA)