2023-09-08 21:17:22
The storm “Daniel” had settled over the central Greek region of Thessaly since Monday and lasted until Thursday. This has resulted in extreme rainfall in the past few days: locally, more than 750 liters of water per square meter fell in less than 24 hours. The rains followed devastating forest fires in Greece.
In the Greek disaster area, rescue workers managed to bring hundreds of people from flooded villages to safety on Friday. According to a report by ERTnews, the number of deaths was ten in the late afternoon, and two Austrians are missing. The situation remains unmanageable: rescue workers have not yet been able to reach all of the flood areas. The damage also only slowly becomes visible.
Archyde.com/Giorgos Moutafis In Palamas, Greece, numerous people are brought to safety on rubber boats
Enormous damage and mountains of mud
The situation was particularly dramatic on Friday in the cities of Larisa and Volos as well as in the municipality of Karditsa, which resembles a large lake. A total of around 72,000 hectares were flooded, the meteorologists said. The alarm was triggered by the amount of rain in the city of Larisa – the Pinios river there temporarily reached a water level of 9.5 meters, while it is normally around four meters, as the newspaper “Kathimerini” wrote.
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The port city of Volos is experiencing massive infrastructure damage and is struggling with mountains of mud that the water has washed into the streets. The entire region of Thessaly is considered the “granary” of Greece; most of the fields here were under water, some of which were meters high.
Damage and deaths in Bulgaria and Türkiye
There have also been heavy rains in Greece’s neighboring countries Turkey and Bulgaria in the past few days. After heavy rain, flooding occurred in the western Turkish province of Kirklareli and in the metropolis of Istanbul. A total of six people died in Kirklareli province and two in Istanbul. Several deaths and damage amounting to several million euros were also reported on the Bulgarian Black Sea coast. Floods have so far been rare on the Black Sea coast.
Archyde.com/Stoyan Nenov Cars, caravans and even bungalows were driven into the sea on Bulgaria’s Black Sea coast
Record rain paralyzes Hong Kong
Enormous amounts of rainfall were also recorded in other regions of the world – including South America and Asia: The Asian financial metropolis of Hong Kong was paralyzed on Friday by the heaviest rain in 140 years. More than 100 people have been injured so far. In addition, at least two people died in the severe storms, the Hong Kong newspaper “South China Morning Post” reported on Friday, citing the police.
The government of the Chinese Special Administrative Region spoke of “extreme conditions”. Schools remained closed and companies were asked to give their employees time off. The rains began on Thursday evening. On Friday night, the weather station in Hong Kong registered a new rainfall record. At the observatory headquarters, 158.1 millimeters of rain per square meter was measured within an hour. This is the highest since records began in 1884. A “black warning” has been issued for further heavy rainfall.
APA/AFP/Bertha Wang Record rainfall in Hong Kong: streets, underground car parks and subway stations were flooded in the Asian metropolis
The Chinese metropolis of Shenzen was also affected
Images of flooded underground car parks and subway stations were shared on social networks. Many streets turned into raging rivers. There were also landslides. Prime Minister John Lee spoke on Facebook of a “rain of the century” and called on the population not to go outside if possible.
Extreme rainfall and flooding also occurred in the neighboring Chinese metropolis of Shenzhen. Just at the weekend, typhoon “Saola” hit the region with heavy rain and squalls. Unlike the rainstorm now, the authorities had warned about “Saola” long in advance.
Floods in southern Brazil
In the Brazilian states of Rio Grande do Sul and Santa Catarina, the number of deaths rose to at least 38. At the beginning of the week, a hurricane caused heavy rain in the two states, which led to floods and landslides. There is great destruction in the affected region, entire communities are under water, said the governor of Rio Grande do Sul, Eduardo Leite, according to the statement.
Rivers overflowed their banks and entire areas were flooded. Thousands of people had to leave their homes and seek safety, media reported. It is the state’s “worst weather disaster,” Leite is quoted as saying in the BBC.
Archyde.com/Diego Vara In southern Brazil, a hurricane triggered heavy rain, which led to floods and landslides
August: Unusual amounts of rain in parts of Austria
Large amounts of rain have also been recorded in this country in the past few weeks: According to an Austria-wide analysis by GeoSphere Austria (as of August 31), the amount of precipitation in the summer was six percent above the long-term average. According to a release, this consists of a dry June (minus 35 percent), an average July (minus two percent) and a wet August (plus 56 percent).
In August, for example, it rained as much in a few days in parts of western and southern Austria as in an average entire August: In some regions, the summer even brought new rain records, especially in Carinthia: In Bad Eisenkappel it rained 790 millimeters this summer . The previous record here was 618 millimeters in the summer of 2014 (measurements since 1974), and on the Loibl it rained 1,092 millimeters. The previous record here was 820 millimeters in the summer of 2020 (measurements since 1959).
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Copernicus: Summer 2023 hotter than ever
UN chief with a clear appeal
According to the EU climate change service Copernicus, August was drier or wetter than usual in many regions of the world. In addition, the world’s oceans have been exceptionally warm for almost half a year, increasing the risk of extreme weather events such as heat waves and heavy rain. “Our climate is imploding faster than we can cope with extreme weather events affecting every corner of the planet,” said UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.
He called on the heads of state and government to take action shortly before the G-20 summit in India. “We can still avoid the worst of climate chaos – and we don’t have a moment to lose.” Copernicus deputy director Samantha Burgess said: “We will continue to see climate records and more intense and frequent extreme weather events impacting societies and ecosystems until we stop to emit greenhouse gases.”
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