Six hundred people have been evacuated in Italy’s second-largest island of Sardinia in the Mediterranean Sea because of wildfires that engulfed the northeastern and southern parts of the island on Sunday, local media reported.
According to a report by Il Fatto Quotidiano newspaper as cited by Sputnik, residents of the city of Posada on the east coast of the island, as well as tourists vacationing at local hotels and beaches, have been among those evacuated.
Strong winds have contributed to the spread of the wildfires. The island’s fire services have closed a 40-kilometer (25-mile) stretch of a highway between the cities of Siniscola and Olbia as a precaution.
Seven airplanes are engaged in battling the wildfires dropping seawater on the flames. Twelve units of firefighting equipment are involved in the firefighting operations on the ground, the newspaper reported.
Southern regions of Italy, especially the largest and most populous island of Sicily, were hit by wildfires in July. Wildfires spread due to abnormal heat, which was brought to the Apennines from Africa by the anticyclone Charon. Three people have died from the fires and heat in Sicily, and the material damage from the disaster has amounted to at least 260 million euros ($286 million).