Floods in Greece, impassable roads, Rivers swept away homes, Helicopters winched people from rooftops
Floods in Greece, impassable roads, Rivers swept away homes, Helicopters winched people from rooftops
After a devastating rainstorm that killed at least ten people, rubber boats and helicopters were used to save hundreds of families in central Greece on Friday. Helicopters winched people from rooftops, and military personnel used rubber boats to save families from floodwaters that were up to three meters deep.
After a record summer heatwave that had started large wildfires, meteorologists said that Storm Daniel was the worst to hit Greece since records began in 1930. It pummeled the country for three days, leaving a trail of destruction.
Rivers swept away homes, bridges gave way, roads became impassable, power lines fell, and the fertile Thessaly Plain’s crops were destroyed.
Common insurance specialists affirmed a loss of life of 10, with four individuals missing. It stated that 1,700 people had been rescued, 296 of whom had been evacuated from their homes via airlift. Occupants said the water was 3 meters (9 ft) somewhere down in places.
There were dozens of submerged villages in the area. According to those who called television stations, hundreds of people were still stuck. The work of a lifetime vanished in a matter of hours, depressing residents, many of whom were farmers.
“All of us have suffered irreparable damage to our homes. “Within two hours, a lifetime’s worth of work was lost,” said 59-year-old Haralampos Tsergas of Palamas.
Evripidis Manoukas, 46, a Palamas resident who had been rescued and was sitting on a trailer with other locals and their pets, reported that the water level had rapidly increased.
He stated, “We tried to open the door, but more water was entering, so we closed it again and left through the windows.”
As well as the human pulverization, the tempest will bargain a financial catastrophe for the country which rose up out of a very long term crippling obligation emergency in 2018, yet Greek Top state leader Kyriakos Mitsotakis said it could endure the fiasco.
“Greece’s economy is currently sufficient to endure such a fiasco. During a visit to the region, he stated, “I will also mobilize every European resource so that we can get additional help to cover, first and foremost, necessary compensation for households.”
Thessaly Governor Kostas Agorastos stated in an interview with the state broadcaster ERT that he estimated that the storm had caused approximately three times the damage that was caused by extensive floods in 2020, which cost 700 million euros ($750 million).
Thessaly represents around 15% of the country’s yearly rural result and is a significant cotton-creating region.
On once fertile soils, torrential rains dumped more than a meter of silt. This year only, agricultural production is destroyed. The thick layer of sediment implies it is presently not ripe,” Lekkas said.
In recent weeks, extreme weather events have occurred all over the world, causing flooding in Hong Kong, Southeast Europe, and Scandinavia. India, on the other hand, experienced its driest August in more than a century.
Following a large wildfire in the north and the country’s hottest summer on record, Greece experienced a deluge in which, according to meteorologist George Tsatrafyllias, one region received more rain in 24 hours than London does in an average year.
According to scientists, freak weather events are becoming more common in Greece, which is on the front lines of climate change.
“It’s only each occasion in succession,” said Christos Zerefos, head at the Athens Foundation Exploration Community for Air Physical science and Climatology.
Specialists gave departure orders for three regions around the focal city of Larissa on Friday over worries of extra flooding from the waterway Pineios, the third-longest in Greece.
In the village of Pineada, also in central Greece, survivor Stavroulla Brazioti, 104, told ERT, “I’ve lived through wars, misery, and hunger… Ive never seen such a thing in my life.”
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