On Saturday, the rescue service announced that the number of dead after the heavy floods in central Greece had risen to eleven. This after a 77-year-old man was found dead on a beach outside the port city of Volos.
The storm, which has been named Daniel, hit the eastern coast of Greece at the beginning of the week and later moved inland. Experts have called the weather “extreme”, according to AFP.
People trapped after the downpour
The rescue service and the country’s army are now working hard to search for people and rescue those in need in several regions.
– Over 2,850 people have been rescued since the bad weather began, says rescue service spokesman Yannis Artopios, according to the news agency.
– There are still many people in the villages around Karditsa, Palamas and towards Trikala. They are not missing, but they are trapped.
In the village of Palamas, several houses are under water. The rescue service is on site to rescue people from the bodies of water.
– We were stuck without any help or information for hours. We received the 112 message to evacuate just as we were hit by the flood and we had no way to escape, 54-year-old Eleni Patouli, who lives in the village, told AFP.
– It was really hellish.
1,500 pigs drowned
The rainfall has devastated thousands of hectares of farmland and hit farmers hard in several areas.
– We are devastated. Over 1,500 pigs have drowned and 70 percent of our farm has been damaged, 58-year-old farmer Thomas Kasos told the news agency.
Traffic on the highway between the country’s second largest city, Thessaloniki, and the capital, Athens, was heavily restricted on Saturday. The road was forced to be closed in several places due to the downpour.
Storm Daniel is hitting Greece hard just months after the devastating forest fires that killed at least 26 people.