Meteo-France has lifted the red heatwave vigilance, Tuesday morning. Seventy-three departments are now under orange vigilance. The end of the “intense heatwave episode on the Atlantic coast” could give respite to the firefighters mobilized in Gironde, where 19 000 hectares went up in smoke.
source : France24: The eastern half of France will still suffer from the heat wave, Tuesday, July 19. But after the numerous heat records recorded on Monday, the significant drop in temperatures by the Atlantic Ocean led to a lifting Tuesday morning of the red vigilance “heat wave” on 15 departments of the west of the country. Some 73 departments are now in orange vigilance.
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A cooler oceanic air mass has arrived from the west”, putting an end to “the intense heat wave on the Atlantic coast”, notes the Météo-France bulletin, which specifies that “temperatures will rise again in the regions further east” with maximums between 37 and 40°C.
At the end of the day, “locally violent thunderstorms” are expected over the Hautes-Pyrénées and Béarn, before progressing towards the Toulouse region, the Dordogne and the Limousin.
No lull in the fires
The night from Monday to Tuesday was complicated in Gironde on the front of the two giant fires which have already ravaged 19 000 hectares of forest.
Nearly 1,700 firefighters from all over France, supported by significant air resources, are mobilized against these two fires that have burned 4,700 hectares of forest in La Teste-de-Buch and 12,000 hectares in Landiras, 50 km to the east, according to the latest update of the prefecture of Gironde on Monday evening. In the late afternoon, a new fire broke out in Vensac, in the Médoc, burning 70 hectares.
A man was placed in custody as part of the investigation into the fire in Landiras, announced the Bordeaux prosecutor’s office.
At the foot of the Pilat Dune, the five campsites “have burned to 90%,” said the prefect of Gironde, Fabienne Buccio. “We do not let ourselves down, the fire does not do what it wants, we annoy it. We are building firebreaks, ditches, everything we can get done around it.”
This heat wave is affecting all of Western Europe, also causing forest fires in Spain or Portugal. The temperature could exceed the 40°C threshold on Tuesday in Great Britain, a first in the country. About half of the territory of the European Union is currently facing a risk of drought, announced Monday the European Commission.
site web source: www.france24.com
