Storm Elias brought months’ worth of rain in less than a day as it swept across Greece on Wednesday, just weeks after Storm Daniel left 17 people dead in the country.
Villages and roads were flooded, and schools were forced to close in several towns. Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis has mobilized emergency services and the military to reinforce defenses in areas such as northern Thessaly.
Firefighters said they had moved more than 3,000 people to safer locations since Tuesday (26) as the weather worsened.
On Wednesday night, the European Severe Weather Database announced that several months of rain had fallen in the previous 24 hours – and more is on the way, with the storm expected to continue until at least this Thursday (28) with heavy rain, hail and thunder, according to Greece’s meteorological service.
The storm is mainly affecting the country’s central Greek region, a region still recovering from the aftermath of Storm Daniel, which hit Greece in early September, toppling houses, turning villages into lakes and killing at least 17 people.
The port city of Volos in Thessaly is among those hit hard by both storms. During Daniel, Volos experienced more than 10 times its average September rainfall, while Elias flooded roads near the port and Greek police banned traffic in the city as a precautionary measure.
According to the European Severe Weather Database and the World Meteorological Organization, Volos saw 298 mm of rain in a 14-hour period during Storm Elias, more than eight times the city’s September average.
Other cities in Greece also saw heavy rain. Limni had 216 mm in 7 hours, while Istiaia recorded 140 mm in 3.5 hours. Greek public broadcaster ERT reported that villages were flooded and roads collapsed on the island of Evia, which was devastated by forest fires in 2021.
Greece is one of at least 10 countries and territories that have been hit by serious flooding this month.
Scientists warn that these types of extreme weather events, which affect countries around the world, could become increasingly common as the climate crisis accelerates, putting pressure on governments to prepare.
The floods caused by Storm Daniel, which followed devastating forest fires in the country, “have the fingerprints of climate change”, Greek Environment Minister Theodoros Skylakakis told CNN on September 12th.
“We had the hottest summer on record. The sea was very warm, which led to this unique meteorological event,” he said.
See also – City of SP has hailstorm and drop in temperature after heat wave
Source: CNN Brasil
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