logo
Israel sets all-time record of electricity consumption amid extreme heat wave

Israel sets all-time record of electricity consumption amid extreme heat wave

The Stara day ago
JERUSALEM, Aug. 10 (Xinhua) -- Electricity consumption in Israel reached an all-time high on Sunday afternoon, amid the extreme heat wave hitting the country, state-owned company Noga, which manages the national electricity system, said in a statement.
According to the company, consumption reached 15,806 megawatts, breaking the previous record set in August 2023, which stood at 15,694 megawatts.
Weather forecasts indicate that the heat wave in Israel is set to worsen in the coming days, with temperatures expected to reach the mid-40s degrees Celsius in the Sea of Galilee, the Dead Sea, and the Red Sea city of Eilat.
Ahead of the heat wave, Israel's National Fire and Rescue Authority has announced a nationwide ban on lighting fires in open areas, effective from Thursday until the end of August.
The authority, in coordination with the national emergency service Magen David Adom, also issued guidelines to the public, including drinking plenty of water, avoiding sun exposure during peak heat hours, and ensuring that toddlers are not left unattended in vehicles.
Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Nationwide blackout hits Iraq as heatwave strains power grid
Nationwide blackout hits Iraq as heatwave strains power grid

The Star

time5 hours ago

  • The Star

Nationwide blackout hits Iraq as heatwave strains power grid

BAGHDAD, Aug. 11 (Xinhua) -- A sudden failure in Iraq's power transmission lines on Monday triggered a nationwide blackout, the Electricity Ministry said. Mohammed Nema, undersecretary for production affairs at the ministry, said technical teams were working to repair the fault and had begun gradually restoring service, which was expected to be fully restored within hours. Ministry spokesperson Ahmed Musa told the state-run Iraqi News Agency that the outage was caused by an overload in the power system, particularly in Babylon province and the Shiite holy city of Karbala, where millions of pilgrims have gathered for the Arbaeen religious ritual. He said record-high temperatures, surging demand, and increased electrical loads disconnected transmission lines, cutting more than 6,000 megawatts from the grid. The sudden drop, he added, accelerated the frequency of generating units, triggering their automatic shutdown. Iraq has been hit by a severe heatwave in recent days, with temperatures reaching around 50 degrees Celsius in several provinces, further straining the country's power supply.

Hundreds evacuated in northwestern Turkey as authorities fight wildfires
Hundreds evacuated in northwestern Turkey as authorities fight wildfires

The Star

time7 hours ago

  • The Star

Hundreds evacuated in northwestern Turkey as authorities fight wildfires

A wildfire burns on the outskirts of the northwestern city of Canakkale, Turkey, August 11, 2025. Kanal17haber/via REUTERS ISTANBUL (Reuters) -Firefighters in Turkey are battling wildfires in the centre of the northwestern province of Canakkale, fanned by strong winds, and hundreds of residents have evacuated in precaution, local authorities and media said on Monday. Airplanes, helicopters, vehicles and around 700 personnel are fighting against the blazes, city governor Omer Toraman said in a post on X. Authorities also launched precautionary evacuations in areas at risk including a university campus, military area and residential areas and urged residents to avoid unnecessary travel to keep roads clear from traffic for emergency vehicles. The city's airport, the Dardanelles Strait, as well as a part of the highway were shut due to the wildfires, and local television footage showed huge plumes of smoke billowing over the hills. Water-spraying police vehicles were extinguishing blazes that spread to some residential buildings in the area according to footage from Anadolu news agency. Temperatures in the region reached 33 degrees Celsius with a wind speed reaching up to 66 kilometers per hour, according to Turkey's meteorological service. Some 50 people were affected by smoke and were treated at nearby medical facilities, with no life-threatening conditions, the governor said. (Reporting by Ezgi Erkoyun and Ali Kucukgocmen, Editing by Alexandra Hudson)

Firefighters battle 'fire whirls' in northern Spain
Firefighters battle 'fire whirls' in northern Spain

The Star

time11 hours ago

  • The Star

Firefighters battle 'fire whirls' in northern Spain

A warehouse burns in a wildfire in Cubo de Benavente, Spain, August 11, 2025. REUTERS/Susana Vera CUBO DE BENAVENTE, Spain (Reuters) -Extreme heat and strong winds caused "fire whirls" as a blaze burned several houses and forced the evacuation of hundreds of people from near a UNESCO-listed national park in northern Spain, authorities said on Monday. Thirteen fires broke out in the north of the Castile and Leon region, with about 700 people told to abandon their homes in half a dozen villages. Four fires were still live, Juan Carlos Suarez-Quinones, chief of environment for the regional government, said on Monday morning. Firefighters had extinguished the other nine. High temperatures on Sunday had caused the so-called fire whirls near Las Medallas park, forcing firemen to retreat and burning some houses in the nearby village, according to Suarez-Quinones. "This occurs when temperatures reach around 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit) in a very confined valley and then suddenly (the fire) enters a more open and oxygenated area. This produces a fireball, a fire whirl," he said. "This explosive and surprising phenomenon was very dangerous. It disrupted all the work that had been done, forcing us to start practically from scratch," he added. Scientists say the Mediterranean region's hotter, drier summers put it at high risk of wildfires. Once fires start, dry vegetation and strong winds can cause them to spread rapidly and burn out of control, sometimes provoking fire whirls. A prolonged heatwave in Spain continued on Monday with temperatures set to reach 42 C in some regions. Domingo Aparicio, 77, was evacuated to a nearby town from his home in Cubo de Benavente on Sunday after a warehouse in front of his home burned down. "How am I supposed to feel? It's always shocking for people close to the catastrophe," he said. Two or three fires may have been started by lightning strikes, Suarez-Quinones said, but there were indications that the majority were the result of arson, which he described as "environmental terrorism". In the northern part of neighbouring Portugal, nearly 700 firefighters were battling a blaze that started on Saturday in Trancoso, some 350 km (200 miles) northeast of Lisbon. So far this year about 52,000 hectares (200 square miles), or 0.6% of Portugal's total area, have burned, exceeding the 2006-2024 average for the same period by about 10,000 hectares, according to the European Forest Fire Information System. Firefighters were also battling blazes in Navarra in northeastern Spain and in Huelva in the southwest, authorities said. (Reporting by David Latona and Susana Vera in Cubo de Benavente, Charlie Devereux in Madrid and Andrei Khalip in Lisbon; Editing by Olivier Holmey)

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store