Spain’s Ministry of Health reported on Wednesday that 679 people had lost their lives in the first eight days (July 10-17) of the second heatwave that hit the country this summer. The Carlos III Health Institute (ISCIII) said that 169 deaths occurred on July 17 alone. According to the institute, 430 of the 679 victims were aged 85 or over, 159 were between 75 and 84 years of age and 58 were between 65 and 74 years.

While the wildfire threat reduced as temperatures dropped, there were no outbreaks in Portugal but French firefighters started to get the upper hand over two major blazes. Spanish firefighters were tackling nine blazes, with two said to be especially dangerous in northwestern Galicia. Some of the 11,000 people evacuated because of the fires in Spain began returning home, and a major highway in the northwestern Zamora province reopened after two days.