Displaying items by tag: evacuations

‘We’re waging a battle of the titans! - and the hardest is still to come,’ said the Greek deputy minister for civil protection. Wildfires in Athens suburbs mean that residents must shut windows against thick smoke containing harmful particles. Over 150 houses were destroyed by a fire that surrounded a monastery and twelve villages on the island of Evia, one of over 100 blazes in the country. The mayor of Olympia, birthplace of the Olympic Games, pleaded for help as flames threatened the site. Three monks from St David Monastery refused to leave. ‘We’re suffocating due to the smoke’, said one monk, describing flames 100 to 130 feet high surrounding them. Police will force them to evacuate if their lives are in danger. Villagers gathered on a beach to be evacuated on boats. Firefighters, helicopters and water-bombing planes were fighting the blazes. Blazes have also broken out in Turkey, Italy, Israel, Spain, North Macedonia and Albania: see

Several areas north of Athens were evacuated on 27 July as an out-of-control wildfire swept through a hillside forest threatening homes near Athens. Winds have dropped now but on 29 July the battle against wildfires continued throughout the night. 180 firefighters, eight ground units, 48 tenders, 2 helicopters and 2 aircraft are fighting the fire. Local municipalities have also deployed water tankers and construction machinery. On the first day of the blaze, six houses were burnt down and residents in eleven villages were told to evacuate their homes for precautionary reasons. At the time of writing four out of 13 regions are at ‘very high risk’ of fire according to the wildfire hazard map. 

400,000 people have been evacuated from ‘red zones’ in the city of Goma, home to between 560,000 and a million people. Nyirangono’s lava flow has destroyed hundreds of homes and businesses and severed most electricity into Goma, causing massive black-outs in a panic-stricken and vulnerable area. Lack of power to water pumping stations has disrupted water availability to over a million people, drastically reducing living standards. There are continuing aftershocks and further eruptions, with cholera and Covid causing serious concerns. Poor electricity supplies to four major hospitals in the area effectively limits their ability to deal with serious injuries, casualties and sickness. The eastern region of Congo is one of the most vulnerable areas on the continent. Decades of war have led to extreme poverty. Already limited resources are under enormous strain, and the people of Goma and the surrounding area are in need of urgent assistance. Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) said 500,000 people are without clean drinking water. See also

Cyclone Yaas has hit the eastern states of Odisha and West Bengal. Nearly two million people were evacuated from West Bengal prior to its arrival. Yaas is the second powerful cyclone to hit India in just over a week, bringing tidal surges with waves higher than rooftops and gusts above 95 mph. Tens of thousands of homes were destroyed, two airports were closed, and train services were cancelled ahead of the storm. West Bengal reported 20,000 mud houses and temporary shelters damaged or destroyed. Last week Cyclone Tauktae resulted in mass evacuations and over 150 deaths. Both Yaas and Tauktae halted Covid prevention efforts, as mass evacuations took precedence. Odisha officials said they had suspended testing, vaccinations, and a door-to-door health survey in three districts. The coastguards have deployed ships and hovercraft along the coast to execute the relief operation.

Hundreds of people near the Florida-Alabama border were being rescued from floodwaters brought on by Hurricane Sally on 16 September. Authorities fear many more could be in danger in the coming days. ‘We had four months of rain in four hours’, said the Pensacola fire department. Sally has weakened since making landfall as a Category 2 hurricane, but the devastation was visible across Southern states by nightfall. Sally continues to slowly move northwest causing torrential rain over eastern Alabama and western Georgia. Pensacola and parts of Florida and Alabama are submerged, with rivers approaching dangerous levels. Numerous counties are under curfews to keep residents safe. A commissioner in Florida said they are still in evacuation and lifesaving recovery missions, as historic and catastrophic flooding threatens more communities. There could be thousands of evacuations. Pray for the families and businesses in areas looking like war zones.