Torrential rain sweeping across central Greece has damaged roads, flooded homes and caused power outages in the central city of Volos and the island of Evia
ByThe Associated Press
September 27, 2023, 9:17 AM
FILE – Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis addresses the media at the Presidential Palace in Nicosia, Cyprus, on Monday, July 31, 2023. Torrential rain sweeping across central Greece has damaged roads, flooded homes and caused power outages on the island of Evia. “I will restate the obvious: The frequency of (weather) assaults due to the climate crisis is something that requires us to integrate civil protection (in our response),” Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis told a Cabinet meeting Wednesday, Sept. 27. (Yiannis Kourtoglou Pool via AP)
The Associated Press
ATHENS, Greece — Torrential rain swept across central Greece on Wednesday damaging roads, flooding homes and causing power outages in the city of Volos and the island of Evia, as the government declared that adapting to climate change has become a national priority.
Authorities banned road traffic in Volos and urged residents to stay indoors, warning that the rainfall was due to continue overnight. At least one village in the region was evacuated after a rain-swollen river broke its banks, but there were no reports of missing people.
The new rainstorms came as Volos, the nearby Mount Pilion area and other parts of central Greece were still recovering from floods earlier this month that caused 16 deaths.
In northern Evia, army and municipal crews cleared debris from the roads near the flood-hit towns of Limni and Mantoudi, where the Fire Service reported receiving dozens of calls from flooded households for assistance.
Authorities had been placed on alert in central Greece and nearby islands following the storm forecast.
The government said the initial estimate of the damage from the storm earlier this month exceeded 2 billion euros ($2.1 billion), with infrastructure repair alone expected to cost nearly 700 million euros ($735 million).
Greece has been promised emergency funding from the European Union and is renegotiating details of existing aid packages to target more funds to cope with the damage caused by wildfires and floods.
“I will restate the obvious: The frequency of (weather) assaults due to the climate crisis is something that requires us to integrate civil protection (in our response),” Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis told a Cabinet meeting Wednesday. “Adaptation to the climate crisis is a fundamental priority in all our policies.”
The weather is expected to improve Friday. ___ Follow full AP coverage of the climate and environment: https://apnews.com/climate-and-environment