Friday 15 October 2021
flood chaos
Severe storms raging in Greece
Countless people seek protection on their rooftops: torrential rains in Greece are causing chaos on the streets and in many residential areas. A change in weather is not in sight at the moment.
Storms accompanied by heavy rain caused major traffic obstructions and floods in Greece. Hundreds of people had to rescue themselves on rooftops to avoid drowning in their flooded homes. In Athens alone, the civil defense said, firefighters had to go out more than 1,400 times on Thursday and Friday to rescue people and pump water from flooded homes. Hundreds of cars were stuck in the flooded streets.
Authorities said there were no casualties as of Friday morning. For this reason, the civil defense closed the two main Athens beaches on the coast and the highway in northern Greece on Friday night until 8 am. “We must be careful, the danger is great,” the minister in charge of civil protection, Christos Stylianides, said on state television.
Most schools and all government entities not connected to emergency services remained closed on Friday. “The amount of water decreases as much as it falls on average throughout the year,” a meteorologist said on state television in many places. There was heavy rain in the morning on the holiday islands of Rhodes, Kos, Santorin, Mykonos and in parts of Crete. The Met Office doesn’t expect the weather to improve until Sunday.