Disasters & Accidents

Southeastern Europe braces for more rain amid deadly flash floods

Ankara/Athens/Sofia, Sep 7 (EFE).- Flash floods caused by torrential rainfall in southeastern Europe have so far killed at least 14 people in Turkey, Greece and Bulgaria as the three nations braced for more rain on Thursday.

TURKEY

Turkish authorities have warned fresh heavy rains could strike several areas of the country where at least seven have died in recent days.

Rainfall could be particularly heavy in Istanbul, where at least two people have died, in Ankara and Izmir, the Turkish State Meteorological Service warned.

A yellow alert has been issued in 11 cities, the weather agency added.

Search efforts continued on Thursday in the northwestern Turkish Kirklareli province after a group of 12 got trapped in a hotel and swelling rainwaters swept away several bungalows.

Six tourists were rescued on Wednesday and so far the bodies of five people who were staying at the tourist complex located in İğneada, a town on the Black Sea coast, have been saved.

A team of around 900 people was assisting with the search and rescue operation along the valley that stretches for five kilometers (3.1 miles) where the hotel is located.

The owner of the resort, which was unlicensed, has been charged with negligent homicide and a warrant for his arrest has been issued.

GREECE

Storm Daniel has left record rainfall and for a third day in a row battered Greece, where so far three have died.

Several villages have awoken immersed in flood waters in a weather event authorities described as “unprecedented”.

The water level has reached the roofs of houses in the villages of Palamas and Metamorfosi, in the central region of Karditsa, where many of its 800 inhabitants had to climb onto roofs to reach safety.

“There are people who are trapped in their homes, the water level has exceeded one and a half meters,” the mayor of Palamas, Yorgos Sakelariu, told Skai radio station.

He added that it was likely some residents could have drowned and criticized delays in the arrival of aid.

Greece’s state broadcaster ERT said the Armed Forces, a special fire department team and helicopters had been deployed to rescue people trapped by the flash floods.

Storm Daniel has been classified as the most extreme weather phenomenon ever recorded in Greece, with record-breaking rain water levels in the regions of Magnesia, Trikala, the island of Euboea and the Sporades islands.

Greece’s Climate Crisis and Civil Protection Minister, Vasilis Kikilias, spoke of an “unprecedented” weather event that had left “enormous” damage to infrastructures.

In the region of Karditsa, the body of an 82-year-old man who had been swept away by an overflowing stream was located Wednesday night, bringing the death toll to three, while three other people remain missing.

In Magnesia’s capital Volos, some 200,000 people remained without electricity and water for two days, amid extensive damage to homes, premises, and the road network across central mainland Greece.

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