Spain wildfire death toll rises to 12, third heatwave of summer could arrive soon, and more news from Spain on Friday 10th July.
Spain wildfire death toll rises to 12
A wildfire that ripped through a hamlet in southern Spain killed 12 people, authorities said Friday, as a heatwave stifled swathes of the country.
Some of the dead in Bedar in Almería province were found in vehicles, the regional government said in a statement, revising an earlier toll of six dead.
Around 150 firefighters backed by five fire trucks battled the blaze which broke out as temperatures neared 40C.
The fire injured at least six people, including a woman who suffered burns and another person with smoke inhalation who were taken to hospital.
Authorities raised the death toll to 12 “after the confirmation of six more deaths in the area of the fire,” the regional government of Andalusia said in a statement.
Regional emergency chief Antonio Sanz called the deaths “an unprecedented tragedy”, adding in the statement that “the pain is immense”.
Witnesses told authorities the blaze may have started after a power line fell, igniting dry vegetation before spreading rapidly through surrounding woodland.
Authorities have not confirmed the cause of the fire.
Third heatwave of summer could arrive soon
Weather models are already predicting a likely third heatwave to soon arrive in Spain. This comes as the country swelters in record-breaking temperatures and suffers wildfires in large areas.
Weather website Meteored forecasts that a new ‘heat dome’ will develop over the eastern part of the peninsula in the coming days and create heatwave conditions in the coming week.
“For next week, 13–19th July, a powerful anticyclonic ridge is expected to develop in the western Mediterranean and trap the heat coming from North Africa and the Sahara,” said Meteored’s Francisco Martín León.
Only two neighbourhoods affordable with average incomes in Madrid and Barcelona
A new study has shown that there are only two “affordable” neighbourhoods left in Madrid and Barcelona.
This is according to a new study carried out by Grupo Tecnocasa and Pompeu Fabra University (UPF) which revealed that there are just two neighbourhoods in Spain’s two major cities where a middle-income household can afford to buy a home with a standard mortgage whose monthly repayment does not exceed 30 percent of their income.
Around 75 percent of the population in cities such as Palma, Madrid, San Sebastián and Barcelona live in areas where the income required to secure a standard mortgage without exceeding the recommended debt-to-income ratio exceeds the average household income, making it impossible for three out of every four families to buy a flat where they live.
Across Spain as a whole, taking as a reference the 741 municipalities with more than 10,000 inhabitants, 30 percent of the population lives in areas where a household on an average income cannot afford to buy a home.
Madrid announces major data centre campus investment
The President of Madrid, Isabel Díaz Ayuso, has announced a new billion euro investment into a data centre campus in Alcobendas on the northern outskirts of the capital.
“This morning, the Regional Minister for the Economy, who is here today, will confirm a major project for our region,” Ayuso said when making the announcement on Thursday.
“Ferrovial is set to open a data centre campus in Alcobendas with an investment of over €1 billion,” she added, stating that “it is in line with what we are working on with our Regional Ministry of Digitalisation”.
A statement from the Madrid regional government does not specify a timeline or estimated opening data.
With additional reporting from AFP.
