Rainstorms claim two lives
Two people were killed when a rainstorm struck Athens yesterday, creating hazardous driving conditions and flooding many homes throughout the city. Authorities said two people were killed and one passenger injured after a car traveling in Koropi, east of Athens, ran off a slippery road into a tree shortly after the storm struck at about 3 p.m. Some of the city’s largest highways were squeezed into single-lane roads, while in other spots rising water blocked intersections. Athenians returning from a weekend away also got caught up in the storm. Traffic along the Athens-Corinth highway backed up for 13 kilometers (about 8 miles) at Kakia Scala. The fire brigade received more than 70 calls from people, mainly in the Piraeus area, whose basements had flooded. For today, meteorologists expect rain to continue along with possible thunderstorms in some parts of the country, but conditions generally are expected to improve.