“The storm turned everything into a horror”

Tourist Sonja Baumann (27) experienced an odyssey during her holiday in Crete. «The island and the holidays were great. But when it came to the return flight, everything became terrible because of the storm,” says the industrial clerk from Eggingen (D) on the border with the canton of Schaffhausen to Blick. Torture instead of a dream vacation.

On Saturday, the storms were so severe that a man (†50) drowned in the bodies of water in Crete. The body of a missing woman (†49) was found on Sunday. The water had washed them into the sea. Because of these events, the regional governor of Crete, Stavros Arnaoutakis, speaks of the “worst storm of the past 100 years”.

Airport roof was not waterproof

The plane would bring Baumann back to Zurich from Heraklion every day on this day. However, instead of boarding, it meant hours of waiting and uncertainty. “All of a sudden my flight disappeared from the scoreboard – and didn’t reappear,” she says.

At the airport, the young woman was protected from the storm: “We didn’t notice much of it inside,” she says. But: “The roof of the airport was not waterproof, the floor was wet.”

After her flight was cancelled, she finally boarded a bus around 10pm that was touring the area with tourists looking for a hotel.

Boarding after waiting 30 hours

“I got several rejections. Because many flights were cancelled, everything was full,” says Baumann. After hours of searching, she’s still lucky – and can sleep for a few hours before heading back to the airport on Sunday morning.

Waiting again, hoping and fearing that their plane will finally take them from Greece to Zurich. The weather has since become calmer.

At around 4:30 PM local time, the good news finally arrived: “We’re boarding!” She’s happy when she can finally fly away, Baumann says – “albeit about 30 hours late. And I’ll be even happier if I land quickly and safely in Zurich.”