Temperatures reached 46.3 degrees Celsius in Lusa, Portugal and 45.6 degrees in Almonte, Spain on Wednesday. The heat is accompanied by drought and the dry and windy conditions have helped the fires spread. More than 3,500 firefighters have battled the blaze across Portugal – covering around 10,000 hectares (25,000 acres) so far – with 17 aircraft helping to drop water on the blazes. A looming problem is that Portugal has just had one of its driest winters and dam water levels are at their lowest. Air support near the coast can use seawater to help control the fires, but in central areas there is limited water supply. Fires are spreading from Portugal through central Spain and now into southwestern France. Fires in the Bordeaux region have destroyed 1,800 hectares (4,400 acres) of forest. Clouds of smoke are easily visible in satellite images. In Pakistan, more than 1,200 homes have been swept away by monsoon rains since June 14, and at least 165 people have died. Mangla, in northern Punjab province, recorded a 24-hour total rainfall of 169.2 mm on 14 July. In Padidan, Sindh province in the south, cumulative rainfall for the first two weeks of July was six times higher than the monthly average, at 235.4mm. And in southwest Pakistan, a monthly total of 127 mm was recorded in Panjgur, Balochistan, more than 20 times the monthly normal of 6.2 mm.
