Athens, Sept. 28, (dpa/GNA) – Much of the Greek port city of Volos was under water on Thursday for the second time this month following heavy rains the previous day.
The Aegean port saw rainfall of 113 millimetres by Wednesday afternoon, with constant rain into the evening, Greece’s Meteo weather service reported.
Residents were trapped in their homes as streets turned into rivers, carrying stones, branches, refuse, refuse bins and even cars towards the sea. Many people spent the night without electrical power, and travel by car was banned.
“Human life is in danger, the world is in danger,” Volos Mayor Achilleas Beos told ERTnews on Thursday morning. Some 80% of the city was without electrical power, and many drains had burst, he said.
The city authorities had been working to repair the damage and clear the debris and mud caused by flooding at the beginning of the month, but the drainage systems were unable to cope with the amount of rain, he said.
The Elias weather system caused flooding and landslides on the northern half of the island of Evia directly to the south of Volos, and agricultural land to the north of Volos was also hit, with water levels of up to a metre.
Emergency services were called in from other parts of Greece, and the army deployed inflatable dinghies to rescue people from their flooded homes.
The Volos region and the whole of central Greece was devastated by Storm Daniel that raged between September 4 and 8.
Unprecedented rainfalls of more than 700 millimetres were recorded within less than 24 hours.
After claiming the lives of 17 people in Greece, Daniel swept south to cause catastrophic damage in Libya, with thousands dead after two dams burst above the port city of Derna.
Meanwhile, a helicopter overflying the Greek island of Evia in heavy weather went down in the sea and sunk, with two occupants reported missing.
The helicopter was flying over the north of the Aegean island which has been hit by a storm. A search and rescue operation has been launched, ERTnews reported, citing police information.
GNA