A rescue team recovered the body of a missing woman in northern Greece on Sunday. The woman was driving in her car when she got caught amidst the rushing waters of the Zliana stream in Katerini, Macedonia.
Her body was discovered roughly a mile apart from her car. The tragedy was the result of severe weather that affected Greece the weekend. The woman has been identified as a well-known pediatrician from the area.
Heavy rains and strong winds reached their peak this past Saturday, December 11, when the woman was first reported missing.
The country’s National Meteorological Service upgraded a weather warning issued on Thursday to an “alarm” level this past Friday, citing “dangerous weather phenomena” including winds and torrential rainfall.
The Ionian Islands were hit with particularly heavy rainfall and strong winds.
On Saturday morning, the Ionian Islands, Epirus, and Central Greece experienced thunderstorms as the weather progressed towards the Peloponnese and Thessaly.
Heavy rains, winds in Greece over the weekend
Attica, home to Athens, as well as Evia, Eastern Macedonia, Thrace, and the islands of the Aegean Sea will face high winds and rain from Saturday afternoon through the evening.
The strong storms died down across Greece on Sunday, allowing search and recovery teams to go out into different areas of the country that were heavily impacted.
The Saronic Gulf, Attica, and Evia also experienced strong southern winds from Friday night through to Saturday.
These strong winds brought with them dangerously high waves in the Saronic Gulf and off the coast of Evia, where waves reached heights of five to six meters (16 to 19 feet) and four to five meters (13 to 16 feet), respectively.
Greece hit by extreme weather in late November
Greece was hit by severe weather in late November when several parts of western Greece were hit by strong tornadoes, destructive landslides, and heavy rain, causing damage to buildings and flooding on many roads throughout the region.
Particularly hard-hit was the Ionian island of Zakynthos. Several hotels were damaged when a tornado hit the area of Kalamaki, which is a popular tourist resort in the summer.
No injuries were reported, but many buildings and homes suffered damage after the severe weather.
Unusually harsh weather also hit the city of Zakynthos, Argassi, and Vasiliko, where houses and businesses were flooded, while tons of mud closed the provincial road leading from Argassi to Vasiliko. Gale-force winds and torrential rains caused landslides in other parts of the island as well.
The severe weather also hit further west on mainland Greece, causing landslides in the city of Nafpaktos. Two police cars that had been parked at the foot of a hill were badly damaged.
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