Published On 25 Jul 202325 Jul 2023 by ALJAZEERA
Terminal building building atfer gutting fire.
Car and train traffic also disrupted due to fire near Palermo’s airport as trees fall and buildings damaged in Milan.
A wildfire burns near Sicily’s Falcone Borsellino Airport in Punta Raisi near Palermo on July 25, 2023 [Handout/Ufficio Stampa Gesap via Reuters]
A wildfire has closed the Palermo airport in Sicily, and storms have killed at least two people in northern Italy as extreme weather batters the length of the country.
The airport in the Sicilian capital was shut for several hours until 11am (09:00 GMT) on Tuesday as firefighters were putting out a blaze nearby that also disrupted road and rail traffic.
The incident added to Sicily’s travel misery at the peak of the tourist season.
The island’s main airport of Catania, Italy’s fifth biggest, was closed last week due to a fire in a terminal building and has reopened only for a few flights.
A heatwave has hit Southern Europe with scorching temperatures bringing increased risk of fires and deaths.
In some parts of eastern Sicily, temperatures rose to 47.6 degrees Celsius (117.7 degrees Fahrenheit) on Monday, close to a record European high of 48.8C (119.8F) recorded on the island two years ago.
On Tuesday, Italy put 16 cities on red alert because of the high temperatures.
They included Palermo and Catania, where power and water supply cuts that local officials blamed in part on the heat have been frequent in recent days.