For thousands of tourists, summer holidays in Greece have become a nightmare, with forest fires out of control.

For days, fires have been burning in the densely forested centre of Rhodes. Initially, the fires were contained, but strong winds have fanned the flames once again as you can see on our WindRadar below.

Flames drifted directly toward villages in the south and southeast of the island. The resort of Lindos was particularly affected too.

Approximately 20,000 holidaymakers and tourists fled, and had to spend the night outdoors, in sports halls or schools - up to 10,000 of which are British tourists.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs activated a crisis team at the Civil Defence to take care of tourists, who had to be evacuated.

During this time of year, in peak tourist season, there is hardly any free accommodation. Many locals took in tourists to their homes and provided food, water and bedding.

Large fires have broken out on other islands too. In Corfu, evacuations of the popular resort of Nisaki have begun. Coastguard boats brought around 1,000 people to safety.

Major fires are also raging on the island of Evia, near Karystos, and on the Peloponnese peninsula near the small port town of Egion.

Hundreds of firefighters have arrived from Romania, Bulgaria, Poland, Slovakia and Malta for reinforcement. France, Italy, Turkey, Cyprus, Israel and Jordan are participating in the firefighting efforts with firefighting planes and helicopters.

The relentless heatwave has had the southern and eastern Mediterranean region firmly in its grip for days.

In fact, Monday 24th July could see Europe's all-time temperature of 48.8°C broken in Sicily.

It also has not rained in Greece for quite some time. The last time a sufficient amount of rain fell in Rhodes for example, in the seaside resort of Paradessi, was in May.