2023-09-10 00:22:01
ATHENS (AP) — The body of a missing 77-year-old man was found Saturday, raising the death toll from flooding in central Greece to 11, authorities said. The number of missing people increased to six, but it is believed that there are more.
The man lived in the coastal town of Paltsi, on the mountainous Pelion peninsula situated between the Aegean Sea to the east and the Pagasetic Gulf to the west. He refused to leave his house, despite the pleas of his wife, who he evacuated. “I’ve been through storms,” she had told him.
The man’s body floated in the Aegean, past the island of Skiathos, to another island, Evia, where it was found Saturday night, according to authorities.
Pelion was hit by torrential rain for the first time on Tuesday, with some spots reporting nearly 76 centimeters (30 inches) of rain in less than a day. The rest of the Thessaly region to the west was affected later on Tuesday, as well as on Wednesday and Thursday.
Another village near a major Greek city was ordered evacuated on Saturday followingnoon as authorities desperately reinforced flood defenses in the face of a swollen river.
Rescue crews were evacuating stranded residents from already flooded areas elsewhere in Thessaly.
The village of Omorfochori, regarding 8 kilometers (5 miles) by road from the city of Larissa, the capital and largest city in Thessaly, was ordered to evacuate via SMS alert due to rising waters in the Peneus River. Residents were directed to a town to the southeast.
But the main concern remains that the river, now overflowing, might flood Larissa itself, a city of around 150,000 inhabitants. Authorities placed tens of thousands of bags filled with sand and rock along the river banks, while opening diversion canals west of the city.
The governor of Thessaly, Kostas Agorastos, was visiting the city of Palamas, one of the worst affected areas in the south-west of the region, when he had to be removed by police on Saturday followingnoon. A small crowd of protesters began shouting insults at him and pushed him, a video posted on social media shows.
Greek newspaper Kathimerini reported Saturday that of the Air Force’s 12 Puma search and rescue helicopters, only four are operational, and the rest have been dismantled for spare parts or have been grounded for so long that they can no longer fly.
There are also doubts regarding the ability of regional and municipal authorities to deal with major crises, despite expanded responsibilities and funding resulting from reforms enacted more than a decade ago.
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