Natural disasters around the world this summer

And it will not be forgotten that natural disasters, this summer, followed each other severely rare. If in France the summer has been the wettest since 1959, in other regions of the world, temperature records have been set. Most striking was certainly the 49.6°C that was reached in Lytton, Canada during an unprecedented “heat dome” during which several temperature records were smashed!

In Western Europe, a bout of torrential rain led to deadly floods in Belgium and Germany. On the contrary, at the “other end of Europe”, Greece and Turkey faced fires of rare intensity that burned hundreds of thousands of hectares.

All these events were observed and measured from space by satellitesEarth observation including from planet Who provided pictures of the most important summer disasters that illustrate this article.

Two hundred satellites serving the Earth and millions of images per day!

As a reminder, Planet operates a fleet of medium and high-end satellites Precision With 21 SkySats in orbiting Capturing images with a resolution of 50 cm and up to 10 times a day from one location, more than 150 Dove satellites act as a linear scanner, capable of imaging the entire Earth every day. This unprecedented capacity of satellites enabled Planet, which was founded in 2010 by three scientists from NASA, to join the International Compact on Space and Major Disasters in 2018 by becoming the leading provider of satellite imagery to the private sector.

France / Var: shooting Gunfrorn Forest

This fire destroyed 7,000 hectares of vegetation in the Var region, on the outskirts of The Mediterranean Sea And it claimed two lives, in addition to the evacuation of 10,000 residents and tourists. It took ten days for the firefighters to put out this fire.

Greece / Athens, Attica and Euboea Island: fires

An exceptional heat wave hit him, with a Mercury Swinging between 40 and 45 degrees, Greece had to struggle 118 fire. It took two weeks to overcome the flames. Smoke erupted on more than 100 thousand hectares. The island of Evia was particularly affected: hundreds of homes were destroyed and more than 2,700 people were forced to evacuate the island by sea.

Turquie / Akçakaya, Manavgat, Dikmen, Karadere et Bucakseyhs: Incendies

Nearly 200 fires broke out for a week in the south and west Turkey. The first fire broke out in a forest in Manavgat, Antalya Province, and quickly spread to neighboring communities. Six people died and thousands of residents had to leave their homes. The fires also destroyed six hundred hectares of agricultural land and killed 150 head of cattle and a thousand head of sheep.

Germany / Hagen and Schuld: Floods

West Germany experienced violent floods Assassins who killed at least 190 people and far exceeded the extremes in history. In Hagen, the streets to the west of the city drowned the inhabitants until their knees in the water, and other roads were buried by landslides. In the municipality of Schuld, six riverside houses collapsed and police counted between 50 and 60 missing.

US/California: Dixie Fire (Greenville)

Dixie Fire has become the second largest fire in history CaliforniaCovering an area larger than the area of ​​Los Angeles. It took over a month for 5,000 firefighters to successfully put out this fire worrying drought and the slots continuous. It has burned more than 500,000 acres and destroyed more than 1,000 homes. Greenville, a small town of about 800 in Northern California, was burned to the ground on the night of Wednesday, August 4 through Thursday, August 5.

United States/Nevada: Hoover Dam

The tank created by hail Hoover, sank to its lowest level, highlighting gravity Severe drought in the western United States. Lake Mead, connected to the Hoover Dam, has reached its most dangerous stage since its creation in the 1930s, causing water scarcity that will affect millions of consumers, including farmers. Lake reserves are down to about 40% of their capacity from 49% a year ago.