The summer storm system “Thalia” slammed into Macedonia, Thessaly, Epirus and the Ionian islands on Wednesday, causing floods, blackouts, and even train stoppages, while the Greek Weather Service counted 9,900 lightning strikes caused by the severe weather.
The ZEUS system of the National Observatory of Athens recorded 9,900 lightning strikes in northwestern Greece just during Wednesday afternoon alone.
Thalia hit the city of Thessaloniki by Wednesday night, bringing heavy rain, lightning and strong winds. At the same time, in Greece’s Pieria Prefecture there was an hour-long blackout during the storm, with electricity only being restored at 10 pm.
According to TRAINOSE, the Greek train system authority, three passenger trains and one commercial train were forced to stop at Aigini, Pieria, after a lightning strike caused a power outage.
During the electrical blackout, the national highway tunnels of Platamonas and Pieria were closed in both directions, with all traffic redirected onto the old highway.
Several large trees came down in Kozani, Florina and Prespa, while the Fire Service was called to pump water out of several flooded basements.
Corfu also suffered a great deal from the severe storm, with the Corfu meteorological station recording 70.8 mm (2.78 inches) of rain, with 69 of them coming down in the span of only 90 minutes.
In the old town of the island, streets became rivers, with torrents of water coursing down them to the sea, while a fire also broke out after lightning hit a tree. Another tree fell on cars in a different area of the island as a result of the high winds.
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