Record Rains Flood Greece Just as Wildfires Let Up

One man died and a second was lacking in central Greece on Tuesday, after torrential rain unleashed main floods that submerged streets and wreaked widespread injury, simply as firefighters had been containing monumental wildfires within the nation.

As tv confirmed semi-submerged automobiles caught on flooded streets and autos being swept into the ocean or onto muddy seashores, the police banned visitors in three areas. The ban got here a day after warnings by native authorities and Greece’s fireplace service for individuals to keep away from pointless journey throughout the onset of the moist entrance, Storm Daniel.

Greece’s fireplace service mentioned a 51-year-old Albanian nationwide died after a wall collapsed on him; state news media recognized him as a cattle breeder who was making an attempt to succeed in his animals. A 42-year-old Greek man was lacking after getting out of his automobile to attempt to push his 16-year-old son to security amid raging floodwaters, a fireplace service spokesman, Vassilis Vathrakoyiannis, mentioned by phone. “The boy was found in the car,” he mentioned. “We’re still looking for the dad.”

The floods significantly affected the port of Volos, north of Athens, and the close by mountain village of Pelion, with Greece’s fireplace service receiving 400 requires assist in the broader space, Magnesia (though most weren’t emergencies). Video from Volos confirmed partly submerged automobiles in streets and other people being ferried by floodwaters by rescuers in plastic boats.

In Pelion, a resident, Iro Proia, posted a reside video on Facebook displaying a automobile swept out to sea and interesting for assist, saying that locals had been trapped.

Earlier on Tuesday, the mayor of Volos, Achilleas Beos, waded by knee-deep water within the metropolis as motorists sat in partly submerged automobiles, shouting at them, “Where are you going? This is insane! Go home! We’ve been telling you since yesterday, there’s a lot of water coming! The rivers are going to break their banks.”

The torrential rain got here on the again of main wildfires which have been taxing Greece’s fireplace service this summer season, the worst of which ravaged the northern area of Evros for greater than two weeks, leaving 20 individuals lifeless and turning big swaths of forest to ash.

Mr. Vathrakoyiannis, the fireplace service spokesman, mentioned the authorities had been sending messages warning individuals to remain dwelling since Monday. He mentioned rescuers had moved 10 individuals to security in plastic boats and famous that many of the 400 requires assist from the Magnesia area weren’t pressing. “Many were from elderly people worried that the floods would spread their way,” he mentioned. “Most were not in danger,” he added.

Inland from Volos, the town of Larisa and the city of Kileler in central Greece had been additionally hammered by the storms, with the fireplace service referred to as to dozens of flooded properties and shops, as was the island of Skiathos, the place video confirmed streets remodeled into muddy rivers on Tuesday afternoon.

The extent of the injury was unclear, however native news stories mentioned that at the very least two rivers had damaged their banks. Greek state tv posted footage of a bridge in Volos collapsing after the River Krafsidonas broke its banks.

The on-line portal of Greece’s climate service, meteo.gr, mentioned the Pelion space had obtained 650 millimeters, or over 25 inches, of rain between midnight and three p.m. on Tuesday. It famous, for comparability, that the typical annual rainfall within the Greek capital was round 400 millimeters, about 16 inches. The complete Thessaly area, in central Greece, obtained “a very large volume of rain.”

Although the rain eased on Tuesday afternoon, the fireplace service and native authorities remained on standby, because the stormy climate is forecast to proceed by Friday in Magnesia. Officials’ best concern is that extra rivers will overflow, the fireplace service spokesman mentioned.