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Europe’s heatwave: ‘Unpredictability catching everybody off-guard’

Much of southern Europe is braced for further scorching temperatures as a new weather system pushes in from north Africa.

In Italy for example, temperatures are rising steadily and at the weekend the number of cities on red alert for extreme heat climbed from 10 to 15, with temperatures forecast to reach 48°C / 118°F in the coming days.

The Italian authorities are warning people to stay indoors.

Angelo Carotenuto is the CEO of tour guides, LivTours. He spoke to Newsday from Rome where he described the situation as “quite uncomfortable…It’s the unpredictability of what is happening that is catching everybody off-guard and unprepared and making the suffering more evident.” He said tourists “are cancelling due to the heat…so yes, there are several losses due to this”.

(Picture: Shows a man cooling off in a fountain during a heatwave in Turin, Italy. Credit: Tino Romano / EPA.)

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