The storm Daniel continues to lash Greece this Wednesday that was still recovering from the terrible fires registered this summer. At least two people have died and three are still missing due to the torrential rains that are affecting the center of the country, with levels of rainfall never seen before.
It is a huge dana (an isolated depression at high levels) that, according to Greek meteorologists, is leaving historic levels of rainfall. In the city of Zagora, more than 500 millimeters of rain have fallen in one day, when the annual average for the city of Athens is 400 millimeters. That is to say, the usual amount of rain in an entire year has fallen on a single day.
“It is the most extreme meteorological event in terms of rain in 24 hours since we have records in the country,” said Civil Protection Minister Vassilis Kikilias, asking people to stay at home. These are improper amounts of rain in the Mediterranean climate. In Zagorá, in the Magnesia region, the record of 75.4 liters per square meter in 24 hours has been verified, almost double the previous maximum, registered in 2009.
The most affected point at the moment is the port city of Volos, with 150,000 inhabitants, where a rancher died after a wall gave way due to water while he was trying to feed his animals. Firefighters have had to rescue dozens of people trapped with rafts in this city where many neighborhoods are still without water or electricity. Many roads remain impassable and even part of the hospital has been flooded. The water has also destroyed a bridge and caused landslides.
Footage from Greek national television shows cars swept up in the mud in the city, and another man is still missing after his vehicle was swept away by a stream in Ayios Georgios. His son was able to get out, but his father was trapped and they are still looking for him. The other deceased person is an elderly woman whose body was recovered under a pile of logs in the center of the country.
This Wednesday attention is focused on the cities of Trikala and Karditsa, where the storm is headed, which could intensify in central Greece. It all happens a few days after Greek firefighters managed to control the Evros fire, the worst recorded in Europe, and one of the hundreds of fires that have devastated much of the country this summer. The rains have also affected northwestern Turkey, where at least five people have died from flooding.
