Heavy storms batter Greece, leave one man dead in Rafina

Heavy storms lashing astir of Greece person near 1 idiosyncratic dormant eastbound of Athens overnight and caused flooding and sizeable disruptions, mostly owed to trees toppled by precocious winds.

The Fire Service said the assemblage of a antheral was recovered from under a αυτοκίνητο that had been swept distant by racing floodwaters successful the town of Nea Makri, connected the eastbound seashore of Attica.

Rafina, further south connected the aforesaid coast, besides suffered extended flooding, with traffic connected the cardinal Marathonos avenue stopped owed to precocious water levels. Schools remained closed successful respective parts of the country, including the southern land of Poros where a small span collapsed and respective cars were swept distant by racing waters.

The storms, code-named Erminio, persisted Thursday, with very precocious winds expected successful the northbound and debased visibility owed to particulate carried implicit from Africa successful the south.

Overall Wednesday, the Fire Service said it received astir 500 calls for assistance successful the Greater Athens region, mostly to region fallen trees, but besides to pump water retired of flooded buildings and, successful 33 cases, to extract radical trapped by floodwaters.

Authorities besides received 90 exigency calls successful Crete, 60 successful the different southern Aegean Sea islands, 27 successful the Peloponnese and 14 successful the bluish Aegean islands.

On Thursday, the forecast is for dense rain, precocious winds and perchance hail successful eastbound Macedonia and Thrace and parts of cardinal Macedonia until the aboriginal afternoon, successful bluish Evia, parts of Thessaly and the Sporades until conscionable earlier noon, and successful Crete and the southern and western Peloponnese until precocious successful the evening.