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Death toll from wildfires rises to four, Lusa news agency reports
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More than 40 people were injured, villages evacuated and dozens of homes destroyed.
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More than 5,000 firefighters are battling 48 wildfires.
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Hot and dry weather forecast for the next two days
Pedro Nunez
Nelas, Portugal, September 17 –
Wildfires raging in central and northern Portugal have so far killed four people and injured more than 40, state news agency Lusa reported on Tuesday, as authorities evacuated more villages overnight.
Civil defense officials confirmed three deaths as of Monday night but did not comment on Lusa’s report.
More than 1,000 firefighters worked overnight to put out four fires in the northwestern district of Aveiro.
Reuters footage showed local residents pouring buckets of water on spreading flames near the town of Nelas, about 50 kilometres (31 miles) east of Aveiro.
There are 48 wildfires burning across mainland Portugal, with around 5,000 firefighters deployed.
In Aveiro alone, fires have destroyed more than 10,000 hectares of forest and scrubland in the past two days, according to authorities, roughly the same area burned across all of Italy by the end of August.
National Emergency and Civil Defense Commander André Fernández said late on Monday that the fires in Aveiro could burn a further 20,000 hectares.
Authorities closed several highways, including part of the main motorway linking Lisbon and Porto, and suspended services on two train lines in northern Portugal.
Portugal and neighboring Spain recorded fewer fires than usual this year due to the start of the rainy season, but both countries remain vulnerable to increasingly hotter, drier weather that scientists blame on global warming.
Temperatures topped 30 degrees Celsius across the country over the weekend when the fires first broke out and were fuelled by strong winds. The IPMA weather agency has forecast temperatures above 30 degrees Celsius for the next two days amid extremely low humidity.
Fire danger will remain “high, very high or maximum” in the northern and central regions, it said.
“We need to be realistic. There will be difficult times in the coming days, but we have to be prepared for them,” Prime Minister Luiz Montenegro told reporters on Monday night.
The government on Monday requested help from the European Commission under the EU’s civil defence mechanism, and Spain, Italy and Greece have each sent two water cannons.
This article has been generated from an automated news agency feed without any modifications to the text.