Five consecutive days of intense rain and thunderstorms have left flooded land, destroyed roads and serious damage in rural areas across much of Crete, an island counted among the Mediterranean's most important tourist destinations.
Measurements by the National Observatory of Athens illustrate the volume of rain that fell, mainly on the island's mountainous regions. According to the network of automatic weather stations operated by the Observatory/meteo.gr, 91 millimetres of rain had been recorded by 15:10 on Sunday alone at Xyloskalo, in the Chania region of western Crete, at the entrance to the Samaria Gorge, one of the island's best-known natural attractions.
