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Medicane “Ianos” and another low storm swept through Greece on Saturday night, with dire consequences: according to firefighters, two people were killed and two more are missing.
Many were unable to leave their homes due to the flooding, the fire department said. More than 600 people were rescued from apartments or rescued by rescuers. The Athens – Thessaloniki train connection was interrupted due to damage to the railway line.
Trail of devastation
Images and videos on social media show the trail of devastation: fallen trees and electricity pylons, cars washed away, sailboats that were washed ashore by wind and waves, ships that sank in the port.
In many places, the streets are flooded, in the city of Karditsa, in southwestern Greece, and in the Ionian Islands, in some cases the power was cut off. A bridge in Karditsa collapsed in heavy rain, as television images from Greece show.
A medicane like “Ianos” is a storm depression that can form in the Mediterranean region towards the end of the summer when the water is still high. As soon as the storm hits the mainland, it becomes less violent, but in this case “Ianos” moved south along the west coast of Greece.
In recent years, Greece has been hit by storms and heavy rains, and injuries and deaths are often to be lamented. The older Greeks claim that such strong storms never occurred with this regularity. “He was waist deep in the water,” an 86-year-old man told Skai TV channel in the hard-hit town of Karditsa on Saturday. “We used to have storms, but never that violent.”
The head of the Greek Meteorological Office had previously said: “It was a rare phenomenon in the Mediterranean. Now, with climate change, it will probably happen more often.”
