A total of 10,495 calls due to Storm Elias were received by the Fire Brigade’s operations center in Thessaly, central Greece, from Tuesday morning until 6 p.m. on Thursday.
WEATHER
A helicopter that crashed into the sea off the coast of northern Evia on Thursday was carrying the pilot and an additional person, the state-run Athens Macedonian News Agency has reported, citing sources.
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.
Streets flooded in Chania, Crete after storm Elias caused heavy rain on Wednesday.
The train schedules from Athens to Chalkida, Evia slowly returning to normal, announced Hellenic Train on Wednesday.
Traffic in the wider area of the city of Volos, central Greece was prohibited on Wednesday “due to the development of dangerous weather phenomena.”
The region of Fthiotida in central Greece is on alert after Spercheios River burst its banks near the village of Frantzi, south of the city of Lamia, flooding adjacent agricultural lands.
A visit to flood-stricken Thessaly by EU Commissioner for Agriculture, Janusz Wojciechowski, initially scheduled for Wednesday, was postponed until October 5 as a new wave of wet weather is hitting the same region, Greece’s Agricultural Development and Food Minister Lefteris Avgenakis announced.
Heavy rainfall from the Elias weather system has struck parts of northern Evia, Greece’s second largest island located east of Athens, where over 50,000 hectares of forest were devastated by massive wildfires in 2021.
Attica and a significant part of central Greece were battered by severe storms, intense lightning activity, and flooded streets early on Wednesday. The adverse weather system named Elias is sweeping across the region, causing concern that lingers until Thursday.
A resident of flood-hit central Greece prepares to take up quarters at a refugee camp in Koutsochero, some 20 kilometers from the city of Larissa, on Monday, as a new storm swept into Greece.
The residents of the municipality Palamas in Karditsa, central Greece, took the initiative to safeguard their community in light of the new wave of bad weather, storm Elias, announced the president of the local community Dimitris Tsigardas on Tuesday.
Residents of Kefalonia, Ithaca, and Zakynthos were warned on Tuesday of dangerous weather phenomena at night by text message through the 112 European Emergency Number.
The Elias weather system was affecting several parts of the country on Tuesday, with heavy rain, thunderstorms, hail and lightning.
More than 600 firefighters, EMAK rescue teams, army units and other state and local authority personnel have been put on standby as central Greece braces for the onslaught of a second major storm in less than a month, after Daniel razed homes, businesses, streets and bridges in early September, claiming 17 lives.
The state’s emergency apparatus is on high alert ahead of the onset of storm Elias, Climate Change and Civil Protection Minister Vassilis Kikilias has said. The fire service, the Special Disaster Response Unit (EMAK), armed forces, police and the Thessaly Regional Authority are all on high alert, added Kikilias.
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