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(CNN) -
Devastating wildfires have swept across parts of southern Europe, sweeping across fields in Spain and Greece and forcing some 1,000 people from their homes on the Italian island of Sardinia.
Sardinia's local government declared a state of emergency on Sunday, due to what it described as an "unprecedented disaster".
Hills burn on the Italian island of Sardinia
"It is not yet possible to estimate the damage caused by the fires that still continue in the Oristano area," Sardinia region president Christian Solinas said in a statement on Monday.
"Vegetation destroyed, businesses and homes burned and animals dead," he added.
In an update Tuesday, regional spokesman Ignazio Artissu told CNN that they currently estimate that around 20,000 hectares were burned, but authorities are still assessing the damage.
Artissu said that most of the fires have been put out and that they are now concentrating on taking the necessary measures so that they do not reignite.
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In recent days, the region deployed 7,500 people and more than 20 aircraft to fight the fires.
Italy has also received support from neighboring countries: France and Greece assigned four planes to assist in fighting the flames.
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Solinas urged the Prime Minister of Italy, Mario Draghi, to send economic aid to the affected areas.
Draghi said his government was following the situation closely and expressed "total solidarity with the population who are working tirelessly on rescue interventions."
In Sardinia, the government declared a state of emergency on Sunday.
Greece also fights against beds
Greece and Spain are also fighting forest fires due to an ongoing heat wave.
In Greece, dozens of forest fires burned between Sunday and Monday, and more than 700 firefighters were deployed to control the situation.
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Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis told a cabinet meeting Monday that firefighters had fought about 50 fires in the past 24 hours across the country.
He also stressed that there could be more fires, after meteorologists warned that the heat wave is likely to continue.
"I want to emphasize that August will be a difficult month. Meteorologists are already warning us that from the end of next week we could face another long lasting heat wave. That is why it is important for all of us, all state services, to be on absolute alert until formally end the fire fighting period, "concluded Mitsotakis.
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More frequent droughts
Droughts are becoming more frequent and more severe in southern Europe, and environmental authorities have warned that the region is the one most at risk within the continent of suffering the impacts of climate change.
Last week, Frans Timmermans, vice president of the European Commission, told CNN's Becky Anderson that "erratic weather patterns will be the new normal."
"If we don't do something urgently - and by 'urgently' I mean now - then the climate crisis is going to get completely out of control and our citizens understand that we have to act now," he said.
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The rise in wildfires has raised another environmental concern after parts of northern Europe were hit by severe flooding recently.
Fires under control in Spain
The Iberian Peninsula was not spared from the flames: fires are raging in Catalonia, in the northeast corner of Spain.
More than 1,700 hectares have been burned in the Conca de Barberà and Anoia areas, but the flames were 90% controlled on Monday after the forces deployed on the ground, which included 95 teams with 280 personnel and six aircraft, take over the situation.
On Tuesday, Catalan firefighters released an update stating that they had continued working at night to extinguish the fires and check the perimeter.
The fires affected Sant Martí de Tous, Catalonia.
In Lietor, in the central-eastern region of Castilla-La Mancha, more than 2,500 hectares were burned over the weekend.
The situation was brought under control on Monday with the intervention of more than 500 people, local authorities said.
The situation in Portugal
Portugal, a neighbor of Spain, has not been affected by the recent fires, but a report published this month claims that it is the nation in Europe most affected by forest fires.
The environmental organization Associação Natureza Portugal (ANP), which acts as the national representative of the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), states that there have been more than 18,000 fires per year in Portugal since 2010.
"Portugal is clearly the European country most affected by forest fires. An average of 136,000 hectares are burned per year, 31% more than in Spain, despite having 80% less forest area. This figure means that each year Portugal sees more than 3% of its forest area burned, "according to a statement.
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According to the European Environment Agency (EEA), "More severe fires are expected in most regions of Europe and consequently a substantial expansion of the fire prone area and longer fire seasons, particularly under scenarios of high emissions ".
"The increase in fire danger is expected to be particularly large in central or western Europe, but the absolute fire danger remains highest in southern Europe," the EEA said in its wildfire assessment.
Fires
