Balkans Braced for Record-Breaking Heatwave

Balkans braced for record-breaking heatwave

BELGRADE (Reuters) -People braving an early summer heatwave sought relief in lakes and mountains across the Balkans this week, as health authorities urged residents to stay in the shade and drink plenty of fluids to avoid dehydration.

Meteorologists in Serbia said on Thursday that yesterday was the hottest day in the Balkan country since measurements began in the 19th century, forecasting even higher temperatures in the coming days.

Serbian authorities advised people to stay in shaded or air-conditioned areas, avoid direct exposure to the sun from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., and warned that a prolonged drought could threaten harvests.

Meteorologists forecast temperatures reaching 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit) across the Balkans in the coming week.

In Montenegro, throngs of tourists left the sweltering Adriatic coast in the south for the cooler Durmitor mountain resort in the north, where temperatures at about 1,500 metres above sea level were significantly lower than on the beaches.

"We planned to explore the coast, but we decided to head north because it was so hot," said Eric, a tourist from the Netherlands.

In Croatia, which has battled wildfires along its Adriatic coast in recent days, people sought respite from the heat at Bundek Lake, just outside the capital Zagreb.

At Lake Ohrid in southern North Macedonia, people cooled off in the water, although some were unfazed by the conditions.

"We’re used to heat in Australia," said Blagoja Lozanivski, a North Macedonian native now living in Australia.

(Reporting by Aleksandar Vasovic, additional reporting by Stevo Vasiljevic, Antonio Bronic and Marijan Ognenovski, Editing by Ed Osmond)