Helicopters and lifeboats have been deployed to rescue hundreds of villagers stranded by flood waters in central Greece after rainstorms left at least 10 people dead.
Touring the crisis-hit area of Thessaly, 185 miles north of Athens, Greece’s prime minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, vowed to do “whatever is humanly possibly” to assist residents in areas deluged by torrential rain that also hit neighbouring Bulgaria and Turkey. A total of 22 people have died across the three countries since Tuesday.
“I understand your anger and fury,” the Greek leader said on Friday. “Damages will be recorded immediately and those who have suffered will quickly see relief [from] the state.”
As the scale of destruction became ever more apparent, Mitsotakis described the downpours as the most powerful weather event the country had experienced.
More that a year’s worth of rainfall was dumped on central Greece in 24 hours. Buildings, bridges and roads have collapsed or been washed away, and satellite imagery showed vast tracts of the country’s prime agricultural heartland submerged in muddy silt.
“I have never seen anything like it in my life,” Stavroula Brazioti, 104, told the state-run ERT TV. “We’ve gone through wars, hardships, hunger, but we haven’t drowned.”
Officials said that in some areas the flood waters were more than 2 metres deep. There are fears that the death toll could rise when levels drop as many people may not have had time to evacuate homes. Thousands of animals are also thought to have died.
“I don’t think we have realised the magnitude of this disaster yet,” Prof Efthymios Lekkas, Greece’s leading natural disaster expert, told state-run TV. “The agricultural production isn’t destroyed just for this year. The thick coat of silt means it is no longer fertile,” he said of a region famed for being one of the country’s main breadbaskets.
Although the storms had abated by Thursday, residents in parts of the central city of Larissa spoke of a situation that had become increasingly dangerous on Friday after the Pineios River burst its banks. Locals told media outlets that water levels in several suburbs were rising by the minute, and some of those trapped said they were running out of food, water, medicines and other essential supplies and were at risk of being flooded as night fell.
The climate crisis and civil protection minister, Vassilis Kikilias, said on Friday: “Great care should be taken as the flooding could intensify at any moment.” He said four people remained missing in the city of Volos and the Pelion peninsula.
Elite commando units have been dispatched to oversee rescue efforts that have helped 1,800 people. On Friday, dozens of tourists were among those rescued.
As the operation continued apace, residents were seen on camera being hoisted on to helicopters from the roofs of homes. Other villagers were taken to safety in dinghies. The government has set up an operations centre to coordinate rescue efforts and restore supplies of power and running water that have been cut in several areas.
Villages are expected to remain submerged for days, and the Greek fire brigade – who earlier this week extinguished a fire that had raged in the northern Evros region for 17 days – is due to continue door-to-door searches for possible survivors.
In a region designated as a global heating hotspot, Greece, like other Mediterranean countries, has been on the frontline of the climate emergency. The flooding follows a summer described as the hottest on record, with temperatures exceeding 47C (116.6F) and hundreds of wildfires erupting on soil turned tinder dry.
A prominent businessman was among the victims discovered on Friday in Volos, which has been particularly badly hit by the storms.
