Bad luck and torrid weather have been tormenting Greece since Wednesday testing citizens and authorities alike.
Nearly 300 firefighters, volunteers and soldiers are striving to contain large forest fires on the northern Greek island of Thasos, which has damaged homes and forced the evacuation of a village. The Greek authorities have instituted a state of emergency and several localities (Aliki, Prinos Kazaviti, Rachoni, Agios Panteleimonas) and two monasteries (Archangel Michael and St. Panteleimon) have been evacuated.
The fire started Saturday, September 10, in four different villages (Rachoni, Limenaria, Prinos, Aliki), as a result of lightning, and then expanded in southern areas of the island with the wind blowing heavily in the north -south.
“All measures are taken to protect the life of people on the island,” Thassos Mayor Kostas Hatziemmanouil said. The fire department also declared that at least eight houses were damaged in the central, mountain village of Kazaviti, which was evacuated.
Meanwhile, flash floods due to heavy rainfall continue to cause severe problems in many regions of central and southern Greece.
A 30-year-old restaurant owner was found drown on Wednesday near the city of Corinth, some 90 kilometers southwest of Athens, bringing the death toll of floods in the Peloponnese this week to five. The man’s car was swept into a swollen stream while he was trying to reach his business, according to the fire brigade.
According to AMNA, four elderly people were killed under similar circumstances on Wednesday while a woman in the northern city of Thessaloniki has been missing after her car was swept by waters on the same day. Outside Trikala, firefighters rescued at least two people after their cars were swept by flood waters,
Flooded sections of national highways and regional roads in central and northern Greece have been closed and traffic has been diverted, while the fire brigade has responded to more than 1,000 calls for flooded basements of homes and stores nationwide.