One person is dead and nine others are injured as a result of a wildfire in the Aude region of France near the Spanish border.
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See subscription optionsThe Aude prefecture said in a statement the fire was progressing "very quickly" and that 1820 firefighters were trying to get it under control.
Around 2500 households in the area were without electricity, it said.
The prefecture said the fire started in the town of Ribaute and had spread for 12 hours over 11,000 hectares, which is roughly equivalent to the size of Paris.
President Emmanuel Macron wrote on X that all of the government's resources were being mobilised to tackle the Aude fire.
Authorities shut parts of the A9 motorway linking France to Spain on Tuesday. The section between the cities of Perpignon and Narbonne in both directions has been affected, France's fire agency and Aude prefecture said.
Southern Europe has seen multiple large fires this summer. Scientists warn that climate change is exacerbating the frequency and intensity of heat and dryness, making the region more vulnerable to wildfires.
Europe is the world's fastest-warming continent, with temperatures increasing at twice the speed of the global average since the 1980s, according to the European Union's Copernicus Climate Change Service.
with agencies
Australian Associated Press
