Wildfires have destroyed thousands of hectares of forest on Greek islands, forcing the evacuation of over 30,000 tourists and locals from Corfu, Evia and Rhodes. With temperatures above 40°C (104°F), a week-long blaze caused chaos on Rhodes, where some tour operators cancelled flights until August. On Corfu and Evia holiday-makers fled luxury villas on the coast. Efthymios Lekkas, a natural-disaster expert, blamed “an unprecedented heatwave…combined with very strong winds”. Several EU countries and Turkey sent firefighters and water-dropping aircraft to join local forces. On July 25th an old Greek air-force firefighting plane crashed in Evia. With the meltemi (annual northerly winds) expected to strengthen, there may be little respite ahead.■