Greeks expect fires, power cuts as heatwave looms

[Angelo]

Greeks expect fires, power cuts as heatwave looms

Mon Jul 7, 2008 8:41am EDT

By George Hatzidakis

ATHENS, July 7 (Reuters) - Greek emergency services and power suppliers are preparing for a week of fires, power cuts and heat-related illnesses caused by a heat wave, officials said on Monday.

Temperatures in Greece are set to stay above the 40 degree Celsius mark this week, peaking at about 42 degrees on Wednesday. Hospitals have been placed on alert and people have been warned to limit the use of air conditioners to forestall possible power cuts.

"As Greek summers are generally warm, we don't expect the temperature to fall below 34 degrees during this one," said Dimitris Ziakopoulos, head of the National Meteorological Institute.

The heatwave follows record temperatures in southeast Europe and Greece last year, which left dozens dead and sparked hundreds of wildfires that destroyed parklands.

"Last year's 47 degrees was an extreme situation. We hadn't seen those temperatures in 60 years," Ziakopoulos said. "We can not predict if this phenomenon will repeat itself this year."

The city of Athens and other municipalities are opening their buildings to the public so that the poor and homeless can take advantage of air conditioners during the heatwave.

Greece's largest electricity utility Public Power Corp. (PPC) may even impose partial power cuts this week as temperatures push demand beyond its capacity.

"Consumption over the past few days has been unusually high, reaching 9,500 MW, and temperatures have not been excessive," said a PPC official who declined to be named. "If this continues we may have problems later this week."

A warm winter which led to a drop in hydroelectric reserves, and ageing facilities mean that PPC's network does not work at full capacity of 10,900 MW. Demand is expected to top 10,500 MW on Wednesday and PPC has asked customers to limit usage to essential needs in an effort to forestall cuts.

"Hundreds of thousands of new air conditioners have been bought recently which is burdening the system," he said. (Additional reporting Renee Maltezou)


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