Greece battered by tropical storms
Daniel brings destruction of epic proportions in central Greece as one man dies, another missing
The Daniel weather system has left a trail of destruction in the country as thousands of people confronted unprecedented conditions struggling to save their lives, abandoning property and cars. The focal point of the destruction was in the port city of Volos on the Pagasetic Gulf, and surrounding regions.
One man died in Volos, and another was missing. Many villages in Pelion (Chorto, Milina, Kalamos, Tsagarada, Agios Ioannis, Argalasti) have suffered huge damage and remain blocked.
Rivers overflowed and turned into torrents, roads were sliced in half, bridges collapsed, while beaches were filled with cars that were washed away by the force of the water.
Meteorologists had warned of the heaviest rainfall ever in Greece. Zagora alone has had more than 500 millimeters of rain in one day, when the annual rainfall in Athens is about 400 millimeters. Even so, the scale of the damage is frightening, and there are many questions as to how and to what extent Greece can fortify itself against extreme phenomena.
As meteorologists had issued multiple warnings as to the intensity of the phenomena, the Civil Protection Agency had asked mayors and regional governors to inform citizens in good time. Interior Ministry sources said there had been announcements by mayors to inform citizens. However, especially in Pelion, where there are still tourists and people on holiday in the villages, “it was very difficult to have everyone evacuated before the outbreak,” a local official said.
The hospital in Volos was flooded with water while people were evacuated from buildings using inflatable boats in the city center, with water levels on the streets rising more than a meter.
When the ring road flooded, several individuals abandoned their cars in search of a secure spot to stand. The Volos nursing home, located in the Agia Paraskevi neighborhood near the banks of the Krafsidonas River, was evacuated in the late afternoon because it was surrounded by water and the old wing collapsed.
The villages of Pelion could not communicate with each other, because trees and electricity poles had fallen on all the roads in the mountains. Crews from the region, the municipality and private individuals worked to clean up in extremely difficult conditions.
Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis blamed both the wildfires and storms on climate change, while conceding that his center-right government “clearly didn’t manage things as well as we would have liked” on the wildfire front.
“I am afraid that the careless summers, as we knew them … will cease to exist and from now on the coming summers are likely to be ever more difficult,” he said Tuesday.
