Eight major cities are on red alert
on Wednesday as Italy continues to bake in its second heatwave
of the summer.
If a city has been put on red alert by the health ministry, it
means the heat is so intense that it poses a threat to the whole
population, not just groups such as the elderly, the clinically
vulnerable and very young children.
Eight cities were also on red alert on Tuesday, but they are not
exactly the same ones, with two coming in, Bologna and Viterbo,
and two dropping out, Bolzano and Turin.
The other six are Florence, Frosinone, Latina, Perugia, Rieti
and Rome.
The number will climb to 10 on Thursday, with Campobasso and
Pescara joining those in red alert.
The current heat wave is forecast to last all week, with
temperatures going above 40° Celsius.
A study coordinated by the Barcelona Institute for Global Health
and published in the Nature Medicine journal this week estimated
that over 18,000 people died in Italy due to the intense heat
the nation endured last summer.
Scientists say the climate crisis caused by human greenhouse gas
emissions is making extreme weather events such as heat waves,
drought, supercharged storms and flooding more frequent and more
intense.
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