Last month was the hottest August on record globally

Last month was the hottest August on record globally, the third straight month in a row to set such a record following the hottest ever June and July, the European Union’s Copernicus climate change panel said on Wednesday.

August is estimated to have been around 1.5 degrees hotter than the pre-industrial average for the 1850-1900 period. Pursuing efforts to limit the global temperature increase to 1.5 degrees is a central pledge of the Paris international climate change agreement adopted by 196 countries in 2015.

July 2023 remains the hottest month ever recorded, while August’s record makes the northern hemisphere’s summer the hottest since records began in 1940.

“Global temperature records continue to tumble in 2023,” Copernicus deputy head Samantha Burgess said.

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“The scientific evidence is overwhelming, we will continue to see more climate records and more intense and frequent extreme weather events impacting society and ecosystems, until we stop emitting greenhouse gases,” Ms Burgess said.

Reacting to the report, United Nations secretary general António Guterres said in a statement. “The dog days of summer are not just barking, they are biting.” He added: “Climate breakdown has begun.”

In Europe, the death toll from severe rainstorms that have lashed parts of Greece, Turkey and Bulgaria increased to 14 on Wednesday after rescue teams in the three neighbouring countries recovered four more bodies.

A flash flood at a campsite in north-western Turkey near the border with Bulgaria killed at least five people – with three found dead on Wednesday – and carried away bungalow homes.

Rescuers were still searching for one person reported missing at the campsite.

Another two people died in Istanbul, Turkey’s largest city, where Tuesday’s storms inundated hundreds of homes and workplaces in several neighbourhoods.

The victims in Istanbul included a 32-year-old Guinean citizen who was trapped inside his basement apartment in the low-income Kucukcekmece district, Turkish broadcaster HaberTurk TV reported.

The other was a 57-year-old woman who died after being swept away by the floods in another neighbourhood, the private DHA news agency reported.

In Greece, a record rainfall caused at least three deaths near the central city of Volos and three people were reported missing. The fire department said one man was killed when a wall buckled and fell on him, and the body of a woman was discovered on Wednesday.

Authorities banned traffic in Volos, the nearby mountain region of Pilion and the resort island of Skiathos, where many households remained without electricity on Wednesday.

Traffic was also banned in another two regions of central Greece near Volos, while the storms were forecast to continue until at least Thursday afternoon.

In Bulgaria, a storm caused floods on the country’s southern Black Sea coast.

The bodies of two missing people were recovered from the sea on Wednesday, raising the overall death toll to four. Border police vessels and drones were assisting efforts to locate another two people still listed as missing.

TV footage showed cars and camper vans being swept out to sea in the southern resort town of Tsarevo, where authorities declared a state of emergency.

Most of the rivers in the region burst their banks and several bridges were destroyed, causing serious traffic problems.

Tourism minister Zaritsa Dinkova said about 4,000 people were affected by the disaster along the entire southern stretch of Bulgaria’s Black Sea coast.

“There is a problem transporting tourists because it is dangerous to go by coach on the roads affected by the floods,” she added.

- Agencies.