Croatia evacuates coastal town threatened by wildfire

Croatia evacuated residents and tourists on Thursday from a town on its Adriatic coast, threatened by a wildfire moving quickly due to strong winds, firefighters said.

The fire is the latest to break out in Croatia which is experiencing a prolonged heatwave that has brought record temperatures to several towns and cities along the Adriatic coast in recent days.

More than 150 firefighters deployed to Lokva Rogoznica, south of Split, to tackle the fire, which has spread rapidly from surrounding pine forests and vegetation to residential areas.

A sports hall was opened in the nearby town of Omis to shelter evacuees, state broadcaster HRT reported.

Footage broadcast by media outlets showed towering flames burning close to houses, with HRT reporting that the damage was already significant.

Croatian fire chief Slavko Tucakovic told the broadcaster the situation was extremely worrying and that firefighters expected a difficult night ahead.

Tucakovic called in firefighting teams from other parts of the country to reinforce crews already at the scene, according to a statement posted on the Croatian firefighting association's Facebook page.

Four Canadair water-bombing aircraft were on standby to assist operations at first light as they were unable to fly overnight.

A coastal road running through Lokva Rogoznica was closed after parts of it were affected by the fire. Long queues of vehicles formed on routes heading towards Omis.

Earlier on Thursday, firefighters, backed by Canadair aircraft, brought under control another large wildfire on the island of Brac, off the coast near Split.

The fire comes as parts of Europe endures another spell of exceptionally hot weather this summer, with several countries facing elevated wildfire risks and authorities issuing heat-related warnings.