It’s not just Europe that has experienced severe heat waves: two North African countries are facing an unprecedented heat wave that has caused several power outages, but also many more fires. Temperatures during the season are 6 to 10 degrees above normal. Last Monday, temperatures in Tunisia neared 50°C, causing power outages and forcing many people to seek shelter on the beach or beaches, while authorities in neighboring Algeria are warning of a high of 48°C.
According to the Tunisian ‘Mosaïque FM’, last Monday the temperature widely exceeded 45 ° C in the country’s 18 main weather monitoring stations.
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48.2°C
Nouveau registration is European #Canicule en juillet à Jerzu & Lotzorai en Sardaigne. High également 47°C in Palermo (debuted in 1791!), 47.8°C in Syracuse – Sicily and 48.9°C in SIAS. pic.twitter.com/QFDZw3kBVj– Dr. Serge Jaga (Dr. George) (@Sergejaga) July 24, 2023
This Monday, in the center of Tunis, the temperature rose to 49 ° C in the shade. On Avenida Bourguiba, the central axis of the capital, it reached 56°C at noon. Several records were broken: in Carthage, the mercury reached 49°C, surpassing the mark of 46.4 recorded on 1 July 1998. At Bizerte, 48.9°C was also recorded, breaking the historical record of 47°C set on 23 July 1981.
Unusually high temperatures for July have caused several power outages in recent days – a necessity to protect network performance, according to public company Stec. These load shedding takes place for 30 minutes or an hour, mainly during peak consumption times.
The situation is the same in Algeria. Local authorities have placed five municipalities in the east of the country – Jijel, Skikda, Annaba, El Darf and Kulma – on “orange alert”. In these areas, the mercury reached 48°C. Intense heat fueled wildfires in the northeast of the country last Sunday night, killing 34 people, including 10 firefighters already engulfed in flames.
Between Sunday and Monday, 97 fires were reported in 16 provinces in Algeria, but the most violent fires affected Bejaia, Bouira and Gijel, the interior ministry said in a statement.
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