A rare hurricane system known as “Medicine” will create severe flooding on Friday after at least three people were killed and hundreds rescued, officials said.
The hurricane, named Einos, struck the Ionian Islands and western Peloponnese on Friday before hitting the rest of the country on Saturday.
“We are facing total destruction,” a Farsala resident told state television.
Strict ‘Medican’ is targeting Greece, alerts have been placed for cyclone ON-like hurricanes.
Authorities said they identified two people killed in the floodwaters on Saturday as an elderly woman was found dead in her flooded home in the Thessaly area and a one-year-old shepherd was evacuated from the floodwaters.
On the Ionian island of Cephalonia in western Greece, seawater covers a passage to the port of Argostoli on Friday, September 18, 2020.
(AP Photo / Nikiforos Stamenis)
They also said that a woman who has been ignored by firefighters and police should not go where the bridge spans the river.
The medical center of Mauzaki village was found partially collapsed on Saturday, September 19, 2020, near the town of Carditsa, after the storm.
(AP Photo / Eurokinesis)
On Sunday, the Athens News Agency reported that the body of a man was found under a collapsed roof near Cardisa.
On Friday, September 18, 2020, waves crashed on the coast during a storm at the port of Argostoli on the Ionian island of Cefalonia in western Greece.
(AP Photo / Nikiforos Stamenis)
Heavy rains have flooded about 5,000 homes in Kardisa, where Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis is expected to visit in the coming days, Sky News reported.
Friday, September 18, 2020 Power and telecommunication lines are damaged during a storm at the port of Argostoli on the Ionian island of Cephalonia in western Greece on Friday, September 18, 2020.
(AP Photo / Nikiforos Stamenis)
As of Saturday, the country’s fire service said it had received about 2,500 calls from residents stranded in central and western Greece, removing fallen trees blocking roads. Emergency officials have rescued more than 600 people since the quake struck.
On Friday, September 18, 2020, on the Ionian island of Cephalonia in western Greece, waves crashed on the coast during a storm at the port of Argostoli.
(AP Photo / Nikiforos Stamenis)
Greece’s train operator, Trenosa, said the service connecting southern and northern Greece had been suspended due to the impact of the hurricane.
On Saturday, September 19, 2020, in the village of Magula, near the city of Kardisa, a man holds a sunken poultry near his home.
(AP Photo / Vagelis Cusioras)
The water from the river that broke its fork damaged at least two bridges and several buildings, including a local health center in the town of Thessaly in Mauzki, which collapsed.
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Parts of the affected area were also without electricity.
On Saturday, September 19, 2020, residents clean a glass sheet next to a flooded alley after a storm in the city of Cardisa.
(AP Photo / Vagelis Cusioras)
Heavy winds and sea foam were seen in the hurricane landfall on Friday.
The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said the storm system was a hybrid between a tropical cyclone and a mid-latitude hurricane.
“It’s a Mediterranean hurricane that brings high winds and waves and torrential rain and flooding,” WMO tweeted.
According to the agency, these hybrid hurricanes are blown by the main wind with torrential rain and also have an eye that makes them similar to hurricanes.
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But there are differences, in that drugs are usually smaller than hurricanes and only last 24 to 48 hours. These hurricanes are also less severe, with very severe drugs reaching only Category 1 hurricane strength.
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The activity historically peaks between September and January, the WMO said Friday. “Greece was last hit in 2018 by a strong ane herb.”
The Associated Press contributes to this report.
