Over the past 24 hours, the tourist island of Rhodes has been hit by severe flooding as a result of a storm that has swept across central and northern Greece over the weekend. According to the newspaper Kathimerini, the floods are among the worst the island has ever suffered.
Reality profiler Bettina Buchanan lives next to the worst-hit village of Ialyssos.
– Cars have floated around in the water and houses have been flooded.
Was without power
On Saturday evening, she was reached by a warning message from the Greek authorities. It said that she should not move outdoors and later in the evening a ban was sent out.
For a while, she was without power after lightning struck nearby.
– But I have had a very good time compared to many others. Me and the cats are fine and I haven’t had any flooding in my house.
Thanks to her living a little higher up in the mountains, the water has run off, but she has friends who have had to leave their homes.
Trying to leave the island
During the morning the weather had calmed down somewhat and Bettina ventured out for a walk.
– About 50 meters up from me, the road is completely destroyed and it is completely blocked off. In the other direction towards the village, it is completely flooded.
Several restaurants and grocery stores have been forced to close due to the floods. Bettina’s plan was to leave the island on Sunday but her flight was cancelled. In addition, the road to the airport is closed.
Now she hopes to come up with a plan that runs on Monday.
– It has started to calm down, it hasn’t rained so hard in the last few hours, so I think people are starting to breathe a sigh of relief, but it’s so destroyed.