Carrol Johnston counted her blessings as she stood on the barren site where her home was destroyed by a fast-moving wildfire that forced her to flee her northern Alberta community two months ago.

Her family escaped unharmed, though her beloved cat, Missy, didn't make it out before a "fireball" dropped on the house in early May. But peony bushes passed down from her late mother survived and the blackened Mayday tree planted in memory of her longtime partner is sending up new shoots — hopeful signs as she prepares to start over in the East Prairie Métis Settlement, about 240 miles (385 kilometers) northwest of Edmonton.

As intense heat batters much of the planet, people cool off however they can. In Pasadena, California, where Wednesday's high was "only" in the mid-90s, seniors found relief — and some fun — in a morning swim class in this image made by Associated Press photographer Ryan Sun.

Elsewhere, things were more serious. As southern Europe bakes under a heat wave, firefighters in Greece continued battle Wednesday with wildfires near Athens that have prompted days of evacuations. Aircraft and crews from other countries were heading to join the fight. Heat in southern Greece was expected to grow worse later this week, approaching 44 Celsius (111 Fahrenheit).

A Croatian firefighter has died during a deadly storm that swept the Balkans after a heatwave, brining the death toll to six, officials said Thursday.

Emergency services in Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Serbia scrambled Thursday to restore electricity and clear the debris left over after Wednesday's chaos.

A landslide triggered by torrential rains in India's western Maharashtra state killed 10 people, with many others feared trapped under piles of debris, officials said Thursday.

A team of 60 rescuers and trained trekkers has been deployed to help save people trapped by the landslide, which occurred late Wednesday night, the state's deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis tweeted. Harsh weather conditions have hampered rescue efforts and authorities have sent in medical teams to help the injured, he added.

Firefighting aircraft and ground crews from other countries headed to Greece on Thursday to help battle wildfires that have intensified as a heat wave baked much of southern Europe in temperatures above 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit).

New evacuations were ordered Wednesday as wildfires raged near Athens. In a round-the-clock battle to preserve forests, industrial facilities and vacation homes, evacuations continued for a third day Thursday along a highway connecting the capital to the southern city of Corinth.

Rescuers searched Tuesday for about 10 people still missing in landslides and floods caused by more than a week of torrential rains in South Korea, as the country's military dispatched more than 10,000 troops to support rescue works.

The downpours pounding South Korea since July 9 have left 41 people dead, nine missing and 35 others injured. The rainfall has also forced about 12,780 people to evacuate and left about 28,600 households without power.

Extreme rainfall accompanied by deadly flooding hit the United States and several other countries over the weekend and last week.

There were several dozen fatalities in central and southern regions of South Korea, including the Chongju region where an underpass flooded and drowned motorists who became trapped in their submerged vehicles.

Pennsylvania authorities drew on 100 people, drones and cadaver dogs Monday in their search for two missing children whose family's car was swept away in flash flooding that ravaged the East Coast over the weekend. Other parts of the country endured threateningly high temperatures and severe air pollution from Canadian wildfires.

In eastern Pennsylvania, authorities described Monday's search for missing Matilda Sheils, 2, and her 9-month-old brother Conrad Sheils as a "massive undertaking" along a creek that drains into the Delaware River. The children are members of a Charleston, South Carolina, family that was visiting relatives and friends when they got caught in a flash flood Saturday.

Heat records are being shattered all over the world and the summer swelter keeps coming.

Around one-third of Americans are under some type of heat advisory, with the most blistering temperatures in the South and West, where even the regular simmer has turned up a notch.

Wildfires outside Athens forced thousands to flee seaside resorts, closed highways and gutted vacation homes Monday, as high winds pushed flames through hillside scrub and pine forests parched by days of extreme heat.

Authorities issued evacuation orders for at least six seaside communities as two major wildfires edged closer to summer resort towns and gusts of wind hit 70 kph (45 mph).