A pair of wildfires raging in southern France forced authorities to evacuate thousands of people from campsites and tourist spots over the weekend as strong winds sent the flames tearing through rural areas.
Some 3,000 holidaymakers fled campgrounds near the coastal town of Canet-en-Roussillon, near the city of Perpignan while dozens more people had to abandon their homes in Frontignan near Montpellier.
Hundreds of firefighters were tasked with battling the infernos all weekend before eventually managing to extinguish them this morning.
‘The fire has been under control for two and a half hours now,’ a spokesman for the regional firefighters in Montpellier, Jerome Bonnafoux, said early today.
‘But we’re still working on it because there are several hot spots where the risk of it flaring is high.’
While France was blighted by wildfires, Austria suffered horrendous flooding with heavy rains triggering major landslides, particularly in the ski resort of St. Anton.
Shocking images showed buses and cars partially buried in rocks and sludge as rainwater gushed through the Alpine streets.
Hundreds of firefighters were tasked with battling the infernos all weekend before eventually managing to extinguish them this morning
Shocking footage taken from firefighting helicopters showed huge swathes of farmland and countryside trailing smoke, the ground left blackened by the inferno
Floods wash away cars as they blight the Alpine town of St Anton
A bus and car are seen partially buried by landslides amid heavy flooding in Austria
Heavy rains lashed Alpine regions and left parts of Vienna under water at the weekend, causing severe damage in parts of the country and disrupting road and rail transport
Half of the 600 firefighters who deployed to tackle the blazes in France will remain working on the sites throughout the day to ensure no further fires break out today.
Smaller fires were reported in southern France today but they were all under control, officials said.
Yesterday, 11 different planes, a Dragon helicopter and a water bomber helicopter went into action in Frontignan, conducting constant firefighting flights over the burning fields and forests.
Meanwhile, the fire in Montpellier, which ignited near the A9 highway leading to the Spanish border, destroyed at least 300 hectares (740 acres) of land.
Footage taken from firefighting helicopters showed huge swathes of farmland and countryside trailing smoke, the ground left blackened by the inferno.
Firefighters emptied the swimming pools of private homeowners to tackle the blaze, the mayor’s cabinet director said.
Meanwhile in Austria, heavy rains lashed Alpine regions and left parts of Vienna underwater at the weekend, causing severe damage in parts of the country and disrupting road and rail transport.
Torrents of muddy water swept cars through the ski resort of St. Anton in western Austria, footage posted on social media showed, and record rainfall hit parts of Vienna in the east of the country, according to state broadcaster ORF.
A woman was dragged under a bus by the force of flooding in the Doebling area in the north of the city on Saturday. She was rushed to hospital in critical condition.
Fire services in the capital were called out more than 450 times on Saturday as the downpours caused traffic chaos and disrupted rail transport.
Smoke is seen trailing from burned ground close to Montpellier
A bus is buried beneath rocks following a landslide in Austria this weekend
A massive cleanup operation is underway in Austria
A house in St Anton is seen partially buried by sludge following heavy flooding
‘Heavy storms have done great damage in many parts of Austria,’ Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer said on X, thanking officials who were working to clear up the damage.
In Vienna’s Doebling district, officials registered 110 litres of rain per square metre, which ORF Vienna meteorologist Kevin Hebenstreit said was a record for August rainfall in the city.
A large proportion of Vienna’s average summer rainfall hit on Saturday in just one hour, according to weather data firm UBIMET.
On average in August it rains a total of 68 litres per square metre, with the all-time record being 139 litres on May 15, 1885, according to ORF.
Fires also blighted Turkey last week, with hundreds of firefighters eventually managing to calm blazes across the nation on Friday.
Dry, hot and windy weather conditions led to a series of fires, including one that threatened World War I memorials and graves at the Gallipoli battle site.
At the peninsula where an Allied landing was beaten back by Ottoman troops in a yearlong campaign in 1915, the flames reached Canterbury Cemetery, where soldiers from New Zealand are interred.
Images of the site in northwest Turkey showed soot-blackened gravestones in a scorched garden looking out over the Aegean Sea.
Firefighters tackled blazes across Turkey on Friday as dry, hot conditions led to fires
Infernos also threatened World War I memorials and graves at the Gallipoli site
Smoke rising as firefighting efforts managed to bring the fires under control on Friday
The fire was brought under control by Friday. Officials said it was started by a spark from electricity lines that spread through forested areas.
On the west coast, a fire threatened houses on the outskirts of Izmir, Turkey’s third largest city, where a blaze broke out in the woods Thursday night. Residents fled their homes as ash fell around them.
‘The fire in the Dogancay region unfortunately reached residential areas due to the wind. We want our citizens living in the region to evacuate their homes as soon as possible,’ District Mayor Irfan Onal posted on social media.
As dense smoke rose into the sky, hundreds of stray animals were removed from municipal shelters and local media reported that flames up to 120 feet (30 metres) high were approaching a housing complex in Dogancay.
Off-duty firefighters were called in to help and police water cannons were also employed to fight the blaze.
‘The wind is spreading the effect of the fire to many places,’ said Izmir Mayor Cemil Tugay on Friday prior to fires being extinguished.
‘Our teams are working with all their might to prevent the fire from reaching residential areas.’
