1,100 deaths in 16 days linked to Spain’s heatwave

More than 1,100 deaths in Spain have been linked to a 16-day heatwave that ended Monday, according to an estimate released Tuesday by the Carlos III Health Institute.

Officials reported 1,149 excess deaths in Spain from August 3-18 that could be attributed to the scorching temperatures, the public health agency said.

The institute used data from Spain’s Mortality Monitoring System that was compared to historical trends.

It also incorporates external factors, such as weather data from the national meteorological agency AEMET, to assess likely causes of mortality spikes.

Although MoMo cannot confirm a direct cause between deaths and high temperatures, it provides the most reliable estimate of fatalities in which heat was likely a decisive factor.

For July, the Carlos III institute had attributed 1,060 excess deaths to intense heat, a 57 per cent increase over the same period last year.

Climate experts say global warming is driving longer, more intense, and more frequent heat waves around the world.

Raging wildfires tore through an additional 30,000 hectares of western Spain in less than 24 hours, satellite data showed Tuesday, but cooler temperatures have raised hopes of containment.

Some 3,73,000 hectares have been scorched in Spain this year as of 0700 GMT Tuesday, according to the European Forest Fire Information System.

That marks the country’s worst fire season since records began in 2006, surpassing 2022, when 3,06,000 hectares were consumed by flames.

The bulk of the devastation has come from massive fires that have been burning for more than a week in the northwestern provinces of Zamora and Leon, Galicia’s Ourense province, and Caceres in the western region of Extremadura.

Authorities have evacuated thousands of residents from dozens of villages.

Several major roads are closed, and rail services between Madrid and Galicia have been suspended.

Prime minister Pedro Sánchez was expected to visit fire-hit areas in Zamora and Caceres on Tuesday.

While officials warned that the blazes remain far from extinguished, the end of a 16-day heatwave has improved conditions for firefighters.

Maximum temperatures have dropped by 10 to 12 degrees Celsius and humidity levels have risen, the central government’s representative in Castile and Leon, Nicanor Sen, said.

‘These changes are facilitating and improving the conditions to gain control of the fires,’ he told public broadcaster TVE.