‘We have lost everything’: extreme rainfall across Asia brings flash floods and typhoons

 

Bangladesh is one of several countries in the region to experience heavy rains and flash floods. Photograph: Rayhan Ahmed/Zuma Press Wire/Shutterstock
 

Residents and rescue workers inspect buildings damaged by heavy flooding in the eastern province of Nuristan, Afghanistan. Photograph: Wahidullah Kakar/AP

 

From Afghanistan to Taiwan, unprecedented deluge highlights devastating impact of climate breakdown

By Natasha May and Jonathan Watts

“It rained for 10 days and 10 nights, non-stop – I’d never seen anything like it,” says Anar Gul, a construction worker who lives in the remote district of Dur Baba in eastern Afghanistan.

The houses in his village are built from stone and mud, which makes them extremely vulnerable to heavy rains. After days of rain, Gul’s kitchen collapsed and his neighbour, Sayed Afsar Sadat, saw a large part of his house completely destroyed. “Rains like this are coming heavier and earlier each year,” says Sadat. “They are destroying the roads and washing away our crops. It’s impacting us directly.”

 

Last week, torrential rains and flash floods wiped out villages and towns in Afghanistan, leaving at least 31 people dead and hundreds missing. It’s been a similar picture in neighbouring countries, with the monsoon rains sparking chaos across the region. India, Bangladesh and Pakistan have all seen erratic, sudden heavy dumps of water.

Jesmin Akter lived in the city of Chattogram, on the south-eastern coast of Bangladesh, which received a record 412.3mm of rainfall in 24 hours in early July, leading to the flash flood that swept through the Banshkhali district where they live. She says her children “understand that we are in a very bad situation”.

Overnight the rains took the little they had; their poultry died, their paddy field flooded, their house collapsed and all their belongings in it – children’s books, school bags, toys, clothes, kitchen items – ruined.

Akter carried her six children through chest-deep water to her mother’s house. There they stayed in the crowded conditions for over a week until the water receded.

 Anar Gul, who lives in a remote mountain village in the Dur Baba district of eastern Afghanistan, says he has never seen rain like it. Photograph: IFRC/Mark South.

 

“We have lost everything,” Akter said. Their house beside the canal was not in a good condition, but a few months ago the family had repaired it. “Now the flood has destroyed it again. We have no money. We are surviving on the food assistance we receive from different organisations.” They have gone back to the ruins of their home, but her children sleep on plastic sheets laid on the wet floor and she worries for their safety, especially that the unsanitary conditions will lead to disease. Her daughter has developed a fever.

As wildfires rage across Europe and North America, the unprecedented rains continue elsewhere. While South Korea swings between heatwave and downpour, in Japan and Vietnam torrential rain has led to landslides. China, meanwhile, has seen bouts of extreme rainfall since the flood season began in April, according to the water resources ministry in mid-July, marking the start of a month-long peak flood control window. More than 600 rivers have since risen above warning levels – a 35% jump from the average for the same period over the past five years.

Sayed Afsar Sadat in Dur Baba says rains are destroying the roads and washing away crops. Photograph: IFRC/Meer Abdullah Rasikh.

In the south-western city of Chongqing, a huge landslide after torrential rain killed at least 11 people and left 50 missing, with rescue efforts still ongoing. Separately, a flash flood at a scenic camping spot in the north-central province of Gansu left 10 people dead and injured 23 others.

The flood season across the region has been exacerbated by successive storms. Typhoon Noul, the strongest to make landfall in China so far this year, prompted the evacuation of more than 890,000 people in Guangdong as of Sunday evening, according to provincial authorities. In early July, Typhoon Maysak inundated parts of Guangxi and swept through commercial snake farms, allowing hundreds of snakes to escape.

Forecasters have warned that more wet weather is on the way. Much of northern China, including Beijing, is expected to receive 20% to 50% more rain than usual, while four to six typhoons are forecast to make landfall in or affect the country this summer, above the average of 4.2, according to the China Meteorological Administration.

 Taiwan, an island that lies in the path of typhoons in the north-west Pacific, has also seen a rise in extreme rainfall. In June, repeated downpours caused more than NT$330m (about US$10.2m) in agricultural losses across Taiwan, according to the agriculture ministry, while the capital Taipei recorded its highest monthly rainfall in more than a century.

Torrential rain flooded the streets of Dhaka in Bangladesh. Photograph: Mohammad Ponir Hossain/Reuters

The extreme weather across the region can clearly be linked to climate change. Climate scientists have long predicted that large areas of Asia will disproportionately suffer from more intense heat, humidity and drought as a result of climate disruption caused by the burning of gas, oil and coal. The most recent report by the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change said rising temperatures raise the threat of “floods in monsoon regions in south, south-east and east Asia, and glacier melting in the Hindu Kush Himalaya region”.

And World Weather Attribution scientists have warned that extreme rainfall from cyclones is being “supercharged” in south-east Asia, with a clear pattern of increasingly heavy rain over recent decades. 

In early July, Typhoon Maysak inundated parts of Guangxi in south China. Photograph: Cao Yiming/Xinhua/AP

 

The year 2025 saw devastating storms and rainfall across the region. It also saw ocean temperatures rise to record heights. So far, this year has brought record-breaking heatwaves. Extreme rainfall is more common and more intense because of human-caused climate breakdown across most of the world, particularly in Europe, most of Asia, central and eastern North America, and parts of South America, Africa and Australia. This is because warmer air can hold more water vapour and flooding has most likely become more frequent and severe in these locations as a result.

“More intense rainfall is an expected consequence of us heating the planet by burning fossil fuels and building up more carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. A warmer atmosphere can carry more water, so when it rains, it rains harder. Also hotter conditions cause air to rise faster and drive more intense thunderstorms,” said Richard Betts, head of the climate impacts strategic area at the Met Office Hadley Centre.

The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) in providing aid helped the Guardian obtain interviews with those affected.

Typhoon Noul (pictured in Hong Kong) prompted the evacuation of more than 890,000 people in Guangdong. Photograph: Venron Yuen/Nexpher/ZUMA Press Wire/Shutterstock

 

Dr Hosam Faysal, the head of IFRC’s country delegation in Afghanistan, said “these are the very real, humanitarian effects of a changing climate … becoming increasingly volatile”.

Faysal urged governments to ensure there was more investment in locally-led preparedness and mitigation in order to reduce the loss of life and suffering before climate-related disasters happened.

“The coming forecast El Niño is a clear example – waiting to respond to the extreme needs we can see coming only once they arrive will cost lives.”

• Research by Yu-chen Li

 

Wildfire now nine miles from French city of Bordeaux, mayor warns

 

Firefighters in Gironde are facing an "unprecedented" situation as they battle a blaze that "has a life of its own", the interior minister has warned

by  Jaroslav Lukiv

 

The mayor of Bordeaux has said he is bracing for "all eventualities", as one of multiple wildfires burning in France is now 15km (nine miles) from the south-western city.

"We are preparing to accommodate a large number of people should further evacuations be ordered," said Thomas Cazenave.

President Emmanuel Macron, visiting the fire-ravaged area in the Gironde region, said the country was facing a "completely unprecedented wildfire" - the "toughest since World War Two".

Some 220,000 people have been evacuated in France and more than 100,000 in Spain, where fires are burning "uncontrolled" west of Madrid.

Another intense heatwave on Tuesday could further hamper firefighting efforts.

Macron said a smaller fire in the Landes region had been contained, but the fight continued in neighbouring Gironde.

While firefighters had made progress on Monday, improving the situation compared to 24 hours before, he warned that "temperatures are set to rise again, the wind is still present, and therefore we must remain humble".

Earlier, Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez had said the fire "has a life of its own".

 

Jerome Steffe, the mayor of Cestas, a town south of Bordeaux, told the BBC this "will be the fire of the century".

He described how 17,000 residents were evacuated from his town during the night when the fire swelled two days ago. So far, he said, the region has seen 42,000 hectares (103,000 acres) of land burned and 240 houses destroyed.

"In my city the situation is really catastrophic," he added.

And although the fire is no longer moving as quickly, he said his teams have "won only a small battle" and emphasised that the risk remains from flying embers or a sudden change in wind direction.

"We put all our energy into creating protective firebreaks," he explained, but admitted "we are all scared in front of this situation."

French Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu warned the country "is going through an unprecedented fire season", with 116,085 hectares (286,852 acres) burned and 13,566 fire starts recorded since January.

The minister revealed in a post on X that nine out of 10 fires "are human-caused and most arise from carelessness: a cigarette butt, a barbecue, work carried out without precaution".

But he also said that not all these fires are accidents and some are deliberately set, adding that since 6 July, 162 arrests have taken place.

 Wildfires are also burning in several other French regions, including Var and Landes, and also in Haute-Corse on the island of Corsica.

Meanwhile, neighbouring Spain on Monday entered its fifth day of a national emergency because of raging wildfires west of the capital Madrid.

BBC Verify has been analysing satellite imagery showing the spread of the wildfire west of Madrid, which has now affected more than 27,000 hectares.

Satellite images, captured on 24 and 26 July, show how the fire spread over two days after several blazes in the Almorox, Villa del Prado and San Martín de Valdeiglesias areas merged into one large fire.

The images show the rapid expansion of the burn scar as the wildfire spread.

Local officials have warned that the region faces the "worst fires in its history".

Climate change is driving up temperatures around the world, and Europe is the fastest warming continent, heating up twice as fast as the global average, according to the Copernicus Climate Change Service.

 This is causing increased summer heatwaves, greater pressure on Europe's water supply, and more intense wildfires.

France and Spain race to contain huge wildfires before fresh heatwave begins

Race against time to contain wildfires in France and Spain - The Latest

by  Angelique Chrisafis in Bordeaux, Angela Giuffrida in Rome and Jennifer Rankin in Brussels

 

 Coming days are ‘absolutely critical’ for firefighters before temperatures rise again this week, officials say 

Firefighters in France and Spain are racing to bring huge wildfires under control before another heatwave this week that will complicate efforts to tame the flames.

Spain’s interior minister, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, said Monday and Tuesday were “absolutely crucial days” before temperatures rise again from Wednesday, prompting prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, to warn: “We face difficult hours, complex hours” ahead.

EU officials have said wildfires could still be burning until early November in what threatens to be a record-breaking year for the area of land burned.

A wildfire burns near Cestas in Gironde province in south-west France. Photograph: Julien Soulard/EPA

 

A fire in the hilly terrain of Ávila, west of Madrid, has become Spain’s largest on record, burning 50,000 hectares (125,000 acres). Authorities are battling two separate fires north-west of Madrid, taking the total area of scorched land near the capital to 70,000 hectares.

Spain’s state meteorological agency, Aemet, said the heatwave would last until “at least” Sunday, “making firefighting efforts more difficult due to high temperatures [and] locally gusty southerly winds.”

France was also in “a race against time” to control wildfires before another heatwave this week, said Eric Brocardi, a fire service spokesperson. Weather forecasters have said temperatures could reach 40C (104F) is some parts of the country from Tuesday.

Charred cars in the Spanish village of Chapinería on Monday. Photograph: Violeta Santos Moura/Reuters

This would complicate efforts to control the wildfire in Gironde in south-west France, which the interior minister, Laurent Nuñez, described as “extremely intense and unpredictable … generating its own winds and advancing erratically toward the Bordeaux metropolitan area”.

The mayor of Bordeaux, Thomas Cazenave, told the BBC he is bracing for “all eventualities”, as the fire advanced to within 15km (nine miles) from the city. “We are preparing to accommodate a large number of people should further evacuations be ordered,” he said.

On a visit to Bordeaux, the French president, Emmanuel Macron, said: “The coming weeks will be tough and we have to hold out.”

But he said a smaller fire in the adjoining Landes – which forced the evacuation of more than 30,000 people – was “contained” but remained “virulent”. “We must be extremely cautious over the next few hours and the coming days,” he said.

The Gironde fire has so far burned 42,000 hectares, making it one of the biggest devastations of land in France since the second world war.

In the Cestas commune, about 10 miles from the city of Bordeaux, firefighters used mechanical diggers to uproot trees in an attempt to create a firebreak.

The vast fire, which has triggered the evacuation of 220,000 people, had not progressed during the early hours of Monday but was “not contained” and remained “very complicated to control”, Nuñez said.

Speaking after an emergency meeting of the French government on Monday, he described this year’s wildfires as “completely exceptional”. More than 116,000 hectares of forest and vegetation have been burned since January, far exceeding the 70,000 hectares reported for the whole of 2025.

Spain’s government said the 172,000 hectares of forested land burned this year was six times greater than the equivalent figure for 2025.

Sánchez, told a climate conference the wildfires were not isolated incidents.

“It is the most painful manifestation of a climate emergency that is making … wildfires more voracious and heatwaves more frequent, and as a result our land more vulnerable,” he said. “It is no longer an exception. It is the rule.”

The European Commission’s lead official on the green transition, Teresa Ribera, said Europe was not prepared for the consequences of the climate crisis. In an interview with El País she said the commission would propose an adaptation strategy in October that would be much more comprehensive than policies implemented so far.

Pedro Sánchez visits a firefighters’ control centre in La Vall d’Uixo. Photograph: Manuel Bruque/EPA

A series of heatwaves, including record-breaking temperatures in June, that scientists say would have been impossible without the climate crisis, has left parched soils and tinder-dry vegetation that have fuelled this summer’s fires.

A European Commission official said the wildfire season had begun in April and could last until early November. Officials also stressed the rising risks for fighting wildfires from the middle of the week in France, Spain and Greece.

The EU executive has coordinated the dispatch of seven planes and four helicopters to France, as well as six planes and three forest firefighting teams to Spain, after the countries triggered the bloc’s emergency assistance mechanism. EU officials have also been sent to the Bordeaux region to assist local authorities.

A fire engine drives through smoke near Marcheprime outside Bordeaux. Photograph: Emma Da Silva/AP

Officials stressed the unprecedented nature of recent fires, which have spread rapidly over large areas. A commission official said that a recent fire in southern Spain that killed 13 people had reached speeds of 4 mph, while firefighters are able to react only to fires moving 300 metres an hour or less.

The scale of Europe’s wildfires has raised questions about the continent’s ability to respond. Italy is among about 10 European countries that have sent firefighting equipment or teams to France and Spain while grappling with its own blazes.

Several fires broke out in northern and central Portugal, officials said, with over 1,000 firefighters and other professionals battling the flames.

Firefighters fought to extinguish a major wildfire in Italy’s southern region of Puglia on Monday. More than 400 people, many of them tourists staying in campsites set among pine forests, were evacuated by sea from the Gargano peninsula on Sunday as the blaze, fanned by strong winds, encroached on beaches.

A further 58 people were evacuated from their homes in Maratea as a wildfire swept through neighbouring Basilicata.

Italy is bracing for its fourth heatwave this year as temperatures edge up towards highs of 38C to 40C from Wednesday.

Smoke from the fires in France is continuing to cause a “marked deterioration” in air quality across a swathe of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region and beyond, with health authorities warning about the danger.

Elderly people, pregnant women and those with respiratory issues and chronic conditions were advised to take precautions. Local health authorities said people should close windows, wear an FFP2 mask outside and avoid strenuous activity.

The prime minister’s office said more than 1.5 million FFP2 masks had been sent to the region.

Nearly 300,000 flee wildfires in France and Spain (edited)

 

Firefighters battle flames in Lège-Cap-Ferret, south-western France

by Dearbail Jordanand and Sofia Ferreira Santos

 

 

Firefighters are struggling to contain wildfires in south-west France as strong winds push flames towards the city of Bordeaux, with one official saying they "are far from having the fire under control."

More than 250,000 people in France and Spain have fled fires which have been raging for days, as winds and high temperatures hamper efforts to contain them. Overnight, seven towns west of Bordeaux were told to evacuate residents.

In Spain, where a state of emergency has been declared, a change in weather conditions has helped firefighters outside Madrid.

Spanish PM Pedro Sánchez admitted there are "complex times ahead". Meanwhile, authorities in València confirmed the death of a man in a fire.

The man, believed to be in his 70s, was found dead in his car by firefighters as they extinguished a fire in the Salt de l'Aigua ravine in Manises, according to local media reports.

In France, around 200,000 people have been evacuated in south-western regions of Gironde and Landes regions.

France has mobilised its military to help with the response and extra reinforcements from the army have been sent to help firefighters by clearing brush and creating fire breaks

 

As of Saturday morning, the wildfire was around 40km to 50km (25 to 30 miles) away from Bordeaux. Still, the wind was blowing smoke towards the city and people reported an acrid smell in the air.

One tourist who fled an approaching wildfire near Bordeaux with his family described the scale of the blaze as "frightening".

Spencer Randall told the BBC his family evacuated in the early hours of Saturday to an area 100 miles east, but they can "still smell the wildfires from here".

"It's quite strong winds fanning the flames, just terrifying," he said.

Shelters have been set up across the region to house evacuees

A British couple holidaying in Bordeaux said they noticed the flames get worse on Friday night, as the fire approached.

"At about seven o'clock you could smell smoke. We thought someone was having a barbecue," Maisie told BBC Newsbeat from their holiday rental.

Her partner, Caleb, said the ash has now covered the pool in the house and turned their feet black when walking outside.

 

The smoke "really hits your lungs right away", they added.

Nearby, in Saint-Aubin-de-Médoc, residents evacuating said the situation was "stressful", with one local describing it a "disaster".

The final leg of the Tour de France, due to take place Sunday, has been shortened from 133km (83 miles) to 89km (55 miles) so that security forces can be redeployed to areas affected by wildfires, organisers and police have said.

French President Emmanuel Macron is set to have an emergency meeting with ministers as 30 or so fires rage across the country - a situation which the government said is totally unprecedented.

 

In Spain, fires continued near Madrid but the regional government said there had been some progress.

"The change in weather conditions - less wind, higher humidity and lower temperature - has greatly benefited the fight against the forest fires, which have advanced little and decreased in intensity," it wrote on X.

Speaking from Cenicientos, south-west of Madrid, Prime Minister Sánchez said: "Right now, we have a window of opportunity in order to tackle against the wildfires, protect and save lives and effectively try and control the fire."

 "It's true that temperatures have dropped a little bit. But still the wind is making it difficult and there may be thunderstorms as well."

Since the wildfires broke out in Spain, nearly 60,000 people have been evacuated from the Madrid and Ávila regions, while more than 28,000 remain confined to their homes, according to Spain's Interior Ministry.

Madrid's regional president Isabel Díaz Ayuso described the situation as the "worst fire in the history of the region".

Sánchez said 130,000 hectares of land had been burned in Spain so far this year, ahead of an annual average of 100,000 hectares for the country over the last decade. 

A helicopter dumps water as firefighters collect water from a pool in El Tiemblo, outside Madrid

France's Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez said 98,000 hectares have burned across the country since the beginning of 2026.

Meanwhile in Italy, more than 350 fires - including 10 major blazes - broke out on the island of Sicily, the head of the Sicilian Civil Protection said on Wednesday, prompting evacuations.

 

A major incident was also declared by emergency services in Scotland on Friday evening as they continue to tackle a wildfire in the Cairngorms National Park that has been burning for 10 days.

Hadja Lahbib, the EU's commissioner for crisis management, said it is likely that the damage from wildfires in Europe will surpass previous records.

She said fires had started earlier in the year when, in April, the Netherlands activated the EU's civil protection mechanism which triggers support and reinforcements from other countries.

Lahbib told the BBC: "Last year, one million hectares burned during the summer and so we are expecting to face another historical, sad record because the season has started earlier in the year."

She also warned that more outbreaks are likely as the summer goes on.

"Forecasters are predicting, unfortunately, another heatwave so we can expect other wildfires," Lahbib added.

France has activated the civil protection mechanism and will receive water bombers, comprising three Canadairs planes from Croatia and two Air Tractors from Portugal, as well as Black Hawk helicopters from the Czech Republic and Slovakia, and 40 members of a Romanian forest fire team.

 

EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said 11 planes and helicopters have also been sent to France and Spain from the EU's firefighting fleet.

Additional reporting by Mary Litchfield, BBC Your Voice and Srosh Khan, BBC Newsbeat

More than 80,000 people flee as wildfires spread in south-west France and Spain

Lacanau - France

 by Jon Henley in Paris and Sam Jones in Madrid

 ‘Unpredictable’ blaze forces evacuation of holiday spot Cap Ferret and Spain declares emergency over fires near Madrid

 

More than 80,000 people have fled huge wildfires in Spain and France as Madrid declared a national emergency and French authorities ordered the total evacuation, by land and sea, of one of the country’s best-known holiday spots.

Authorities in south-west France ordered the Cap Ferret peninsula on the Atlantic coast to be evacuated “village by village” in the face of an “intense, highly unpredictable” wildfire that has burned through more than 12,500 hectares (30,900 acres) of forest.

Spain’s government declared its first national emergency for a wildfire as two large blazes merged into one outside Madrid and a third was on the verge of joining them, amid searing heat and tinder-dry conditions across much of southern Europe

 

Both countries sought EU help. “This is the worst wildfire in our region’s history,” said Madrid’s regional leader, Isabel Díaz Ayuso, describing “an unprecedented situation: a perfect storm of extremely high temperatures and relentless winds”.

More than 44,000 people had been evacuated in two days to escape the Cap Ferret fire, the Gironde prefecture said, including thousands of holidaymakers in campsites and rental homes. Boats ferried hundreds off piers on the peninsula on Friday as the blaze threatened to cut off the only road to it.

A volunteer guides holidaymakers evacuated from Cap Ferret after they arrive by boat in Arcachon. Photograph: Romain Perrocheau/AFP/Getty

Scientists say climate breakdown is triggering more frequent and more extreme weather events, evaporating soils and waterways, fuelling wildfires and leading to thousands of excess deaths. Europe is heating at about twice the global average rate.

About 800 firefighters and four water-bombing planes were battling the Gironde blaze north of Arcachon Bay, but the fire, which began on Wednesday near the village of Saumos 25 miles (40km) west of Bordeaux, was not yet stabilised.

Numerous roads in the area, including those leading to Cap Ferret – popular with French and international holidaymakers, and home to the villas of many celebrities and millionaires – were closed to all but essential traffic. Eighty houses had burned.

“I’ve seen plenty of fires before, but never one of this intensity,” Jean Mazodier, 86, who owns 150 hectares of forest and was evacuated from his home at 6am as the fire neared the peninsula, told Le Monde. “Everything’s burned. It’s like losing a child.”

A second fire raging in the region, farther south near the popular holiday resort of Biscarrosse, had also burned through more than 2,500 hectares, the Landes prefect, Gilles Clavreul, said on Friday, and led to the evacuation of about 25,000 people.

 

More than 600 firefighters were struggling to contain that blaze, Clavreul said. “The fire front looks very bad,” he added. “There are a great many new fire starts ahead of the main blaze. The situation is highly dynamic and unfavourable.”

In 2022, a wildfire burned more than 30,000 hectares in France’s south-west, forcing 50,000 evacuations. In parched conditions and fanned by strong winds, the two latest blazes have torn through coastal pine forests with flames up to 10 metres (33ft) high.

France’s president, ​Emmanuel Macron, said he had activated the EU’s civil protection mechanism as the country, which has endured three almost back-to-back heatwaves since May, battled numerous wildfires mainly in the south-west and south-east.

“We will soon be able to count ‌on reinforcements from two Croatian aircraft, two Portuguese planes, as well as two heavy helicopters from the Czech Republic and Slovakia,” said Macron, who described the situation as “extremely intense”.

 

France’s interior minister, Laurent Nuñez, said on Friday that 32 wildfires of varying size and intensity were burning across France, with 50,000 hectares scorched already so far this year – nearly four times the total by the same date last year.

About 800 firefighters were battling a blaze in the south-eastern Var area, where weather conditions were improving, Nuñez said, allowing some firefighting resources, including water-bombing planes, to be redeployed to the south-west.

 

The severity of fires in the EU has broken records for the time of year, data from the European Forest Fire Information System shows, with about twice as much land burned by 22 July than the average for that date over the past two decades.

Spain’s government declared a national emergency on Thursday evening after wildfires ⁠threatened communities near the capital and in the neighbouring province of Ávila, forcing more than 19,000 people to evacuate overnight and on Friday.

 

The ​interior ministry said the decision was taken because of the simultaneous outbreak of several fires, adverse weather conditions and ⁠the need to mobilise extensive resources from several public administrations.

A national emergency, which allows central government to assume overall control of powers and responsibilities that are usually the domain of Spain’s self-governing regions, has only been declared once before, during the countrywide blackout of April 2025.

The regional government of Madrid requested assistance, describing the situation as one of “extreme gravity”. It said at least four active fires could advance “beyond current extinguishing capacity”. The fires remained uncontained on Friday.

Spanish authorities said on Friday afternoon there was “very little time left” before the blaze in Madrid, already made up of two merged fires, combined with the Ávila fire. “This is very bad news,” said Nicanor Sen, the central government’s delegate to the Castilla y León region to the north-west of Madrid.

Jose Cobos, who fled his home about 30 miles south-west of Madrid on Friday morning with his wife and three dogs, told Antena 3 television: “The smoke was incredibly thick. You couldn’t breathe.”

Spain’s prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, chaired an emergency response meeting at the Moncloa palace on Friday morning as the state meteorological office warned that the danger of more fires remained very high or extreme across much of the country.

“We’re living through a dramatic situation, not just in various Spanish provinces but also in regions of neighbouring countries,” Sánchez said. “Forest fires are devastating thousands of hectares and affecting numerous communities.”

 

He promised the government had deployed “all available resources. It will be by your side during the emergency and the recovery.” The prime minister also thanked “all the emergency services that are fighting day and night”.

In an update issued on Friday morning, Spain’s environment ministry said 29 big forest fires had been recorded so far in 2026, compared with an annual average of nine between January and the end of July per year over the past decade. Forest fires had burned about 114,796 hectares, compared with 25,133 by the same time last year.

Spain’s interior ministry has also requested fire-fighting aircraft through the EU’s civil protection mechanism, which aims to strengthen civil protection cooperation between EU countries and 10 additional participating states.

Thousands evacuated in south of France as wildfire rages across pine forest

Video

 Local people and tourists were evacuated from the Arcachon Bay area overnight into Thursday after a huge fire engulfed more than 3,400 hectares (8,400 acres) of forest. Pushed by the wind, with flames reaching 10 metres high, the fire is still spreading towards the Cap Ferret peninsula. On Tuesday, two firefighters died battling another nearby fire close to Bordeaux airport

 

Thousands flee wildfires in France as temperatures reach extreme levels in southern Europe

 Some parts of Mediterranean Sea 5C hotter than normal, with air temperatures above 44C expected in Spain

by  Jon Henley and Ajit Niranjan

Firefighters battle the blaze using a water truck near the village of Le Porge in south-western France. Photograph: Romain Perrocheau/AFP/Getty

 

Brutal heat torching southern Europe has forced nearly 20,000 people to flee wildfires in France as a marine heatwave scalds the Mediterranean and researchers warn that “Dantesque” scenarios cannot be ruled out as infernos worsen.

A “particularly intense” wildfire on France’s southwestern Atlantic coast prompted the evacuation of more than 18,800 people, including thousands of tourists from campsites and holiday homes, as firefighters struggled to control the blaze.

 Extreme highs of 44.7C were recorded on Thursday in Cieza, in the Spanish province of Murcia, according to Aemet, the Spanish meteorological agency. The previous day, the Spanish cities of Albacete, Ávila and Teruel broke their July temperatures records with heat as high as 42C.

 

A marine heatwave is affecting 80% of the Mediterranean Sea’s surface area, according to the Mediterranean Monitoring System. Daily temperatures on Tuesday had reached “extreme” levels in several parts, with some anomalies 5C hotter than the average from 1991 to 2020.

The severity of fires in the EU has broken records for this time of year, data from the European Forest Fire Information System showed on Wednesday, and about twice as much land had burned by 22 July than the average for that date over the last two decades. France has broken records for the area burned; it and Spain have broken records for the number of fires.

People look at the sky illuminated by wildfires in Le Porge, south-west France, on Thursday. Photograph: Romain Perrocheau/AFP/Getty

 

A man rests with his dog in a community hall on a camp bed in Le Porge. Photograph: Romain Perrocheau/AFP/Getty

 

The fire in France began in a dense pine forest near the village of Saumos about 40km (25 miles) west of Bordeaux and just north of the bay of Arcachon, a popular tourist destination. It had burned more than 3,700 hectares (9,140 acres) in a little over 24 hours, firefighters said on Thursday.

No casualties had been reported but several houses had succumbed to the flames, they said. The Gironde prefecture said that while 800 firefighters and four water-bombing planes were battling to bring the fire under control, the situation remained “unfavourable” and the blaze was not yet stabilised.

“The fire is highly erratic and gaining very significant force,” said Marc Vermeulen, the regional fire service chief, on Thursday evening. “One of the main fronts is very close to a semi-urban area. We are defending house by house.”

France has endured three almost back-to-back heatwaves since May as climate breakdown leads to more frequent and extreme weather events causing thousands of excess deaths, evaporating soils and waterways and fuelling wildfires.

Patrick Martineau, 69, who was evacuated from the village of Le Porge, told Agence France-Presse that police had “come banging on the doors … It’s scary – hard to take in. When we bought a home here, we never thought there’d be a fire risk.”

Smoke rising from the wildfire in Saumos is photographed from Arès on Wednesday. Photograph: Romain Perrocheau/AFP/Getty

Sylvie, a holidaymaker from Paris staying in the relatively more built-up area of Lège-Cap-Ferret, said a neighbour had told her: “‘Get your bags ready, we’re going to be evacuated during the night.’ We put the bulk of our stuff in the car boot and left.”

Elke Urbain, from Antwerp in Belgium, who holidays in the area every year, said she was advised while she was on the beach on Wednesday afternoon to “go back immediately to the campsite and gather your things. It’s just terribly sad.”

In 2022, a wildfire burned more than 30,000 hectares in the same area, forcing about 50,000 people to be evacuated. In tinder-dry conditions and fanned by a strong wind, the latest blaze has torn through the forest, with flames reaching 10 metres high.

Jean-Luc Helias, 54, from Le Porge, said he and his family had lived through that fire four years ago and “the firefighters do an amazing job to protect people’s homes. All that matters to me is that my family is safe; the rest is just material possessions.”

Nine municipalities have opened reception centres for evacuees and were sheltering more than 2,500 people, the prefecture said. About 8,800 people were evacuated during the day on Thursday, 10,000 overnight.

 Numerous roads in the area, including those leading to the Cap Ferret peninsula a few kilometres to the south – home to the villas of celebrities and millionaires and one of France’s most exclusive holiday spots – were closed to all but essential traffic.

A house in Cotignac, another village close to Pontevès, is consumed by fire on Wednesday night. Photograph: Thibaud Moritz/AFP/Getty

 

A helicopter drops water over a burning area as a wildfire flares up again in Pontevès in south-eastern France on Wednesday. Photograph: Thibaud Moritz/AFP/Getty

 

Police have opened an investigation into the causes of the wildfire, which the mayor of Le Porge, Martial Zaninetti, said on Wednesday appeared to have been started by a machine that was clearing undergrowth.

A fortnight ago, flames devastated a 10th of the Unesco-listed Fontainebleau forest outside Paris in a rare wildfire so far north. France’s interior minister, Laurent Nuñez, has said more than 12,500 wildfires had broken out since the beginning of the year.

In Spain, authorities on Thursday ordered 3,500 people in a town west of Madrid to leave their homes because of a forest fire burning out of control.

The emergency services said on X evacuation messages had been sent to people in Aldea de Fresno, about 60 kilometres (38 miles) south-west of Madrid.

A fire that has burned 32,000 hectares in the province of Guadalajara, north of the capital, was described as stable.

Spanish wildfire scientists said they were not surprised by the extreme figures as the abandonment of rural land had left more overgrown vegetation and the rise in temperatures from climate breakdown made it easier for such plant matter to dry out and burn.

 

Víctor Resco de Dios, a professor of forestry engineering and global change at the University of Lleida, said: “Although it’s difficult to predict how far things might go, we will soon be unable to rule out Dantesque scenarios like those seen in California or Australia, with fires or fire complexes reaching hundreds of thousands of hectares or even a million hectares.”

The marine heatwave in the Mediterranean is projected to shrink but stay strong from Sardinia to Greece, according to a forecast for Saturday from Mercator Ocean. From Gibraltar to the Balearic Islands, strong heat is expected to drop to moderate levels, despite intensifying locally in the Alboran Sea.

Western Europe has been rocked by repeated heatwaves this summer, with extreme highs in June that scientists expect will have killed tens of thousands of people as hot days push bodies into overdrive and warm nights prevent them from resting.

On Wednesday, an analysis estimated the cost of the June heatwave to the continent’s grain farmers at €2bn (£1.7bn) in lost revenue from 9m tonnes of destroyed crops. On Thursday, scientists found climate breakdown had contributed to drought conditions, making levels of soil dryness five times more likely in western Europe and 11 times more likely in eastern Europe.

Japan records its first ‘cruelly hot day’ as cities swelter in 40-degree heat

Japan’s meteorological agency coined the term kokushobi – or “cruelly hot day” to warn the public of dangers tied to extreme heat. Photograph: Nicolas Datiche/SIPA/Shutterstock

by  Gavin Blair in Tokyo

 In April Japan coined new term kokushobi for days above 40C as country advises workers to wear shorts to the office to cope with stifling heat

 

Japan logged its first official kokushobi or “cruelly hot day” on Tuesday since the new term for when temperatures top 40 degrees Celsius was introduced in April. The Japan Meteorological Agency coined the new designation to warn the public of the heat dangers of days that were once freak weather events but have now become more common.

The central Japan cities of Gujo and Tajimi in Gifu prefecture, along with Toyota in Aichi prefecture, all hit 40C. Gujo’s 40C and Toyota’s 40.1C were all-time highs recorded at their respective weather stations.

 

Across 914 weather stations nationwide, 278 registered temperatures exceeding 35C or moshobi – “extremely hot days,” the highest level of warning until the recent introduction of the new terminology. Days over 25C are called natsubi or “summer days”, while those exceeding 30C are known as manatsubi – “true summer days.”

On Monday, a man in his 40s was found dead on a street in Sanjo, Niigata prefecture, while another in his 70s died in Kanagawa, southwest of Tokyo. Both are believed to have succumbed to the heat.

Heatstroke deaths topped 2,000 for the first time in 2024, while more than 100,000 people were taken to hospital last year between the beginning of May and late September, according to the fire and disaster management agency.

 

The rising heat is affecting many aspects of Japanese life – including yields and the quality of rice, a staple. In response, farmers are planting more heat-tolerant varieties, while some are switching to crops such as avocado that have not traditionally been grown at scale in Japan.

Impacts are also being seen in sport, with the most high-profile being the restructuring of the hugely popular koshien national high school baseball tournament. Played in the sweltering heat of August, the games have been split into morning and evening sessions since 2024 to reduce the chances of heatstroke for both players and spectators.

 

Meanwhile, office workers are being encouraged to wear shorts on hot summer days, the latest relaxing of Japan’s buttoned-down corporate culture as part of “Cool Biz” measures to reduce electricity consumption through lower use of airconditioning. Previous initiatives have encouraged “salarymen” to shed jackets and ties, and wear short-sleeved shirts but this year’s expected scorching summer has prompted calls for another level of casualness.

Tokyo governor Yuriko Koike announced the new clothing recommendations for office wear which also include polo shirts, T-shirts and trainers where appropriate, against the backdrop of expected high temperatures and a “challenging outlook for electricity supply”.

A study by the National Institute for Environmental Studies (NIES) and Tokyo’s Waseda University in 2025 found that without drastic cuts to greenhouse gas emissions, school sports will become unplayable outdoors by the 2060s.

Average summer temperatures in Japan have risen about 1.3C over the past 100 years, according to the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA). Both 2023 and 2024 were the hottest years since records began in 1898, but last year saw those levels surpassed again. The summer of 2025 was 2.4C above the average of the previous three decades, with 132 weather stations logging their highest ever average heat and a new all-time Japanese high of 41.8C at Isesaki, Gunma, north of Tokyo, on 5 August.