Intense Storms Cause Flooding, Bridge Collapse in Western Greece

Greece is facing severe weather this weekend causing widespread flooding and serious infrastructure damage in the western parts of the country.

The intense weather phenomena hit particularly hard Epirus and Thessaly, however, they also affected Etoloakarnania, Achaia and the Ionian islands.

Rivers overflowed, flooding crops and cutting off roads, while some villages were evacuated for precautionary reasons and bridges collapsed.

Flooding in Greece’s Thessaly

The Pinios River in Thessaly overflowed causing widespread flooding in the region of Trikala. “Tonight will be a difficult night for the Regional Unit of Trikala”, stressed the Deputy Regional Governor of Trikala Christos Michalakis on Saturday.

He warned that as the heavy rain continued, the water volume in the rivers of the region has risen to very high levels. “We are on alert and vigilant together with all the authorities, in order to deal with any unpleasant situations”, he pointed out, while advising the citizens to avoid unnecessary movements.

Streams turned into rivers in Argithea in the region of Karditsa.

 

 

In Achaia the Fire Service received dozens of calls for help. Many houses, according to the Mayor of Western Achaia Spyros Mylonas, have been flooded and dozens of people have been evacuated.

Epirus hit hard by the storms

In Epirus, where a bridge collapsed, the village of Gliki was flooded from the overflowing water of Acheron River.

Reports say that the situation is also difficult in the Municipal Unit of Fanari where the whole plain has been turned into a vast lake.

The mayor of Agrinio, George Papanastasiou, gave an order for the immediate evacuation of the settlement Kamaretseika Zevgaraki at noon on Saturday, due to the sharp rise of the water level in Lake Lysimacheia, which was caused due to the bad weather.

According to Papanastasiou, the evacuation was precautionary and there was no immediate danger to the residents and their property.

Roads in Nafpaktos have been turned into rivers due to heavy rainfall and rivers in the wider region are in danger of overflowing.

From noon on Sunday, however, the weather will improve. The strong phenomena will be limited mainly to the western, northeastern regions and eastern parts of the Aegean and will gradually weaken.

Snowfalls are expected in mountainous areas of Western Sterea and Thessaly, Epirus and Macedonia.