2023-09-28 09:41:05
VOLOS, Greece (AP) — Parts of central Greece were hit by their second major storm in a month on Thursday, destroying stretches of road, destroying bridges and flooding thousands of homes.
Storm Elias caused extensive flooding in the central city of Volos and left hundreds of people trapped in nearby mountain towns. Firefighters made numerous rescues and evacuations, according to authorities.
“The whole of Volos has become a lake,” the city’s mayor, Achilleas Beos, told state television. “There are people’s lives in danger. Even I was trapped, and 80% of the city is without electricity (…) I don’t know where God found so much water. It’s like the story of Noah’s Ark.”
The same area had already suffered another episode of bad weather this month that left 16 dead and damage worth more than 2 billion euros ($2.3 billion) to farms and infrastructure.
People in Volos used plastic buckets to remove mud from their homes and try to protect their belongings. Among them was Apostolis Dafereras, 83 years old and who has lived in a suburb of the city since 1955.
“I’ve never seen anything like this,” Dafereras said as he tried to push mud and water out of his house.
Officials said the worst damage was in the Volos area and parts in the north of the nearby island of Evia, an area vulnerable to flooding due to massive forest fires two years ago.
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