Power outages, flooding in Volos as Storm Elias sweeps though central Greece
Crews were struggling to restore power and water supply to a large part of the city of Volos in central Greece on Thursday after torrential rain hit several parts of the country, just a few weeks after another mega-storm flooded the same region.
An SMS message via the 112 emergency number was sent to residents of Volos reminding them that traffic in the city was banned by order of the police due to “dangerous weather phenomena.”
EMAK fire service crews carried out overnight rescues with hundreds of citizens trapped in houses and shops. Cars have been swept away by the rushing torrents and large amounts of mud covered the streets, ending up into the sea.
Most of the flooding was in the centre of Volos and its ring road where streets disappeared underwater, while roads to Alykes and Agria were inaccessible.
Once again, the 12-kilometer Krafsidonas stream which collects water from Pelion and crosses several districts of Volos before ending up in the west side of the port and the Pagasetic Gulf burst its banks, flooding the surrounding districts.
The city has been without drinkable water since Storm Daniel destroyed pipes and infrastructure two weeks ago and citizens were supplied with bottled water distributed in several parts of the city by municipal authorities.
