320,000 Flee As Wildfires Ravage Spain and France

With no rain in sight, wildfires continue to rage across France and Spain, forcing 320,000 people to evacuate. In France, 220,000 people have been forced to evacuate since a fire broke out in the Gironde region on July 21.

“The fires that are hitting our country have reached a level that has never been seen before.”
—Sebastien Lecornu, prime minister of France

Facing the flames: According to the Gironde prefecture government, efforts to fight the fires involve 2,750 firefighters, 18 aerial firefighting assets, 1,500 soldiers and 1,440 police officers and gendarmes.

“We expect a fight that will be long and very difficult.”
—Laurent Nunez, interior minister

Destruction: The firestorm concentrated around Gironde has burned more than 42,000 hectares and damaged 240 homes.

Changing the weather: “Yesterday evening, we faced another firestorm, the same incredible, unprecedented, unknown phenomenon as the one we saw on Friday, when we realized we were entering a new dimension,” Prefect of Gironde Sophie Broacs said today after a meeting with a group of international experts. She described the situation:

[A] completely unpredictable phenomenon, combining both fire and the storm it itself creates, with lightning strikes sparking new fires and winds fanning the flames. All of this is happening in a department with one of the largest forests in Europe, so there is an abundance of combustible material.

See God: The biblical book of Nahum shows that God “hath his way in the whirlwind and in the storm, and the clouds are the dust of his feet” (Nahum 1:3). Commenting on this verse, Trumpet editor in chief Gerald Flurry wrote: “God wants this world to learn that He controls nature. Many natural disasters are anything but natural. Soon, arrogant men will learn this lesson very deeply.”

To understand what God teaches us, request our free booklet Why ‘Natural’ Disasters?