Dozens of residents were evacuated from villages in northeastern Greece on Friday after the Evros River broke its banks due to the high volume of water flowing from neighbouring Bulgaria.
The flow into the border region reached a rate of some 2,850 cubic meters a second after authorities in Bulgaria, where there has been heavy rain, diverted water into the river. The depth of the river in Petalo reached 7.25 meters, when the emergency limit is just 6 meters.
The residents who have been evacuated from their homes have been taken to hotels. Numerous homes and businesses have been flooded but no injuries or deaths have been reported. According to Deputy Regional Governor Dimitris Petrovic, the river’s width has grown up to 1.5 kilometres after bursting its banks.
Flooding in the border region is not rare but officials said that some parts of Evros have not seen this amount of water since 1963. Infrastructure Minister Christos Spirtzis travelled to the area to oversee the evacuation operation.
Source: Kathimerini