Severe storms in Greece: Huge bodies of water, tornadoes and at least one dead World Food Program warns of a dramatic situation in Afghanistan

Since Monday night, Storm Daniel has poured massive amounts of water over Central Greece. Although the storms were expected, what is now happening over the country on the Mediterranean Sea is exceeding all predictions, according to news agency DPA.

Accordingly, cars are simply swept away by the floods, as evidenced by numerous videos posted by citizens on social networks and Greek media. People are being rescued from their homes in inflatable boats, for example in the port city of Volos, where the water was waist-deep on Tuesday.

At least one dead

The storm has already claimed at least one life. According to the fire service, a cattle farmer was killed by a collapsing wall and several people are missing.

The water masses also tore apart parts of a nursing home in the coastal town of Volos, after which twenty people had to be taken to emergency shelter. Streets were also flooded in many other cities, Greek media report.

A video recorded in the region of Thessaly shows a car washing into the sea:

Lightning strike and power failure

There was a lot of thunder on Tuesday night: 12,000 lightning flashes were counted within two hours in the cities of Larisa and Volos alone, according to the fire brigade. On the island of Corfu, the power went out and there were problems with the operation of the airport there. On the Sporadic islands of Skiathos, Skopelos and Alonissos, lightning and thunder erupted every second, causing landslides. In the Elis region in the west of the Peloponnese peninsula, hail destroyed parts of the upcoming olive harvest.

Another video on X shows how the water masses destroy parts of the village of Makrinitsa – also called ‘Balcony of Pelion’ because of its location – in the municipality of Volos:

Power went out in many places and during Tuesday, mobile phone networks and the internet in the affected areas were partially affected or not working at all. Due to the continuous rains and flooding, civil protection has imposed local driving bans, including for residents of the port city of Volos and the Sporades island of Skiathos.

Storm through Thursday

ERT weather forecaster Panagiotis Giannopoulos said he had no recollection of 500 millimeters of rain falling in the region in 24 hours. And: “And it will continue to rain for many hours to come!” he warned.

According to meteorologists from the state weather service Meteo, the rainy and stormy weather would continue until Thursday. Central Greece and the Peloponnese peninsula are particularly affected.

On platform X (formerly Twitter), the state weather service also shared a video of a tornado that would rage over the coast of the island of Euboea.

Prime Minister Mitsotakis is self-critical

The Greek media spoke of “biblical catastrophes” in view of the storms that hit the country only shortly after the summer’s severe wildfires.

And Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said: “I fear that the carefree summers as we know them will no longer exist. From now on, summers will probably get even harder.” In addition, Mitsotakis acknowledged that his administration had not addressed weather-related challenges in the way it had hoped.

The storm “Daniel” has only one positive aspect: for the first time in months, there is no risk of wildfires in most of the country.

(lacquer/sda/dpa)