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00:00 For more on this story, we can go across to Sarah Morris standing by in Madrid.
00:04 Sarah, just how bad are things?
00:09 Well probably the webpage of 20 Minutos and its headline sums it up pretty well.
00:15 It says the Iberian oven is back and the Spaniards really just amazed that they've been hit by
00:22 a second heatwave within days after Cerberus, that anti-cyclone that came through from North
00:29 Africa.
00:31 They have now got the Charon, named after that ferryman who transported souls into the
00:37 underworld.
00:38 And many people saying it certainly seems aptly named.
00:42 There's an inferno type feel to the air.
00:45 The central Spain where I am in Madrid, 41 degrees expected to touch today.
00:52 And the weather forecaster saying that the night will not bring much respite, that there's
00:58 many parts of central Spain and Andalusia that will see 25 degrees, making it very difficult
01:05 for people to sleep.
01:07 The forecasters and the authorities in particular are warning people who are vulnerable like
01:13 the elderly, pregnant women to be very careful to stay indoors as much as they can and to
01:19 keep the shutters down.
01:20 Reminding people of course that last year the calculation by some of the academics was
01:27 that as many as 11,000 people died in Spain as a result of that very intense summer weather,
01:34 bringing on heat stroke and some pre-existing conditions.
01:38 Sarah, this of course comes in the middle of the very busy tourist season, the summer
01:43 tourist season in Spain and of course in the run up to that election this weekend.
01:50 That's right.
01:51 There's many tourists saying that they're getting taxis to stay out of walking in the
01:56 sun because their GPS advises them to do that.
02:00 And the authorities are worried about the election on Sunday because of course the elderly
02:06 will be asked as well as anybody else to go out to vote.
02:10 They're being told it's best to go in the early hours of the morning when the polls
02:15 open at nine o'clock or later on in the evening.
02:18 And one of the political parties, SUMA, are actually asking the electoral authorities
02:24 to consider the possibility of extending the voting hours by another two hours to make
02:31 it easier for vulnerable people.
02:34 Certainly there'll be lots of water being handed out on Sunday.
02:38 The forecast is saying that there will be some respite from this heat wave.
02:42 From Thursday the temperatures could come down but they could still be into the 40s
02:46 in Andalusia.
02:47 Sarah, thank you very much for that.
02:49 Sarah Moore is supporting that for us.