One wildfire that broke out Monday afternoon in Santa Rosa County has been named the Five Mile Swamp fire as high winds and low humidity caused the blaze to expand 10 times in size, the Florida Forest Service said in a statement. The fire started as a prescribed burn but quickly grew out of control, according to The Tampa Bay Times.

The Forest Service said multiple structures have been lost in the 2,000-acre fire, and authorities are recommending residents south of Interstate 10 to evacuate. The agency did not make clear how many people have been evacuated from the area. So far, about 20% of the 2,000-acre fire has been contained, authorities said.

The evacuation order will remain in effect until noon Thursday and then will be reevaluated at that time, the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services said in a statement.

“This is an extremely dangerous and fast-moving wildfire situation that is evolving rapidly, so everyone in the affected area should follow directions from state and local officials,” said Florida Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried, AP reported.

Almost all of Florida has had less-than-usual rainfall this year. National Weather Service meteorologist Jack Cullen told The Times that the dryness helped fuel the fires on Wednesday. Cullen, who is based in Mobile, Alabama, said the wind is the real culprit.

“What made this (fire) today was the wind, to go along with the dry conditions and low humidity,” Cullen said.

Firefighters are also battling another 575-acre fire in Walton County. Authorities said approximately 500 people were evacuated from the area and multiple structures were lost in that fire.

There have been no reports of injuries or deaths.

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In an interview with Tasnim on Thursday, Eslami said efforts have been underway by the administrative organizations to plow snow and clean the roads in Gilan Province since the heavy snowfall.

The minister said the traffic jams have cleared on the main roads connecting cities in Gilan, noting that efforts are underway to reopen rural roads as well.

He added that special efforts are being made to clear the roads to which the Ministry of Energy must have access in order to reconnect the power.

On Wednesday, President Hassan Rouhani ordered the administrative organizations to mobilize efforts to help the people in the northern provinces of the country suffering in heavy snowfall.

Rouhani ordered the ministries of Roads and Urban Development, Energy, Information and Communications Technology, and Interior to mobilize all their capacities to expedite the aid and rescue service work and relieve the problems caused by the heavy snowfall in the northern provinces of Gilan and Mazandaran.

According to Iran’s National Emergency Service, five people have been killed in an avalanche triggered by heavy snow in Gilan.

Two other people have been also killed in Rasht, the capital of Gilan province, and 78 others injured due to extreme weather conditions and snow-related incidents across the province.

An official in Iran’s road transportation organization said on Tuesday that all passenger vehicles trapped on the Qazvin-Rasht Highway due to a traffic jam caused by snow would be helped to move from the road by late night.

Earlier reports in the Iranian media suggested that the snowfall and strong winds had dumped one meter of snow on the northernmost parts of the road near Rasht.

Others said the storm had left nearly 100,000 homes and businesses in Rasht, a city of more than 700,000 people, without power while causing outages in telephone and mobile communications.

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A magnitude 6.8 earthquake hit the small lakeside town of Sivrice, in Turkey Elazig Province, on Friday evening. It also affected neighboring cities.

The Turkish Disaster and emergency management agency, AFAD, announced on Sunday that 31 people had died, the majority in Elazig but at least four in nearby Malatya. Over 1,600 people have also been injured.

Rescuers scrambled all of Saturday and continued searches into Sunday to save people trapped under the rubble. The latest number of the individuals rescued was 45, according to AFAD.

Nearly 80 buildings collapsed while 645 were heavily damaged in Elazig and Malatya, the agency said in a statement.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan promised Saturday that Turkey’s housing agency, TOKI, would “do whatever is necessary and make sure no one is left without a home.” He attended the funeral of a woman and her son in Elazig on Saturday, and later visited Malatya after canceling a speech in Istanbul.

In 2010, Elazig Province was struck by a 6-magnitude earthquake, claiming the lives of a total of 51 people. In October 2011, an earthquake jolted the eastern city of Van and the town of Ercis, killing at least 523 people.

And on August 17, 1999, a very strong earthquake hit the western city of Izmit, 90 kilometers southeast of Istanbul, killing 17,000 people.

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“Police can confirm a further person died in an Australian hospital last night as a result of injuries suffered in the Whakaari/White Island eruption,” New Zealand’s deputy police commissioner, John Tims, said in a statement on Monday, Reuters reported.

Police did not provide details on the identity or nationality of the person. The majority of the previously named victims after the powerful eruption of White Island, also known by its Māori name of Whakaari, were Australian citizens or permanent residents.

Two others are still missing since the incident and presumed dead. New Zealand scaled down the search operations and has acknowledged that the bodies of the two missing people may never be found.

There were 47 people, mostly tourists, on or near the White Island volcano when it erupted on December 9, those who survived are still being treated in hospitals in New Zealand and Australia for severe burn injuries.

Official inquiries into the eruption and New Zealand’s response will take up to a year to conclude, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has said.

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