Number of Italian cities on heatwave red alert rises to 17; One-year-old girl dies forgotten in car
Italy's heatwave intensifies, 17 cities on red alert, tragic incident near Venice.
The long heatwave Italy is enduring is set to intensify, with the number of major cities on red alert rising from 13 on Thursday to 17 on Friday.
When an area is on red alert, it means the heat is so intense it is a threat to active healthy people and not just vulnerable groups such as the sick, the elderly and young children.
The cities currently on red alert, out of the 27 monitored by the health ministry, are Ancona, Bologna, Campobasso, Florence, Frosinone, Latina, Palermo, Perugia, Pescara, Rieti, Rome, Trieste and Viterbo.
On Friday Bolzano, Bari, Brescia and Verona will join them.
Temperatures are forecast to get as high as 40°C in areas of southern Italy at the weekend.
The heat is not the only problem with high humidity levels making things especially uncomfortable.
Scientists say the climate crisis caused by human greenhouse gas emissions is making extreme weather events such as heatwaves, droughts, supercharged storms and flooding more frequent and more intense.
Although there are many sources of the greenhouse gases that are causing global heating, the main driver is the burning of fossil fuels such as oil, gas and coal, sales of which generate huge profits for the world’s energy giants.
One-year-old girl dead after being forgotten in car
Meanwhile, a one-year-old girl is dead after being left in a car for several hours in baking heat due to a tragic mistake by her father, who forgot she was there.
When the father returned to the vehicle in a car park in the town of Marcon, near Venice, he called the emergency services but the paramedics were unable to resuscitate her, the sources said.
There have been several similar cases in Italy in the past.
Via ANSA
