ATHENS – The violently bad weather that swept Greece on Wednesday, January 21 left two dead in its wake, as well as extensive damage and problems with infrastructure, a lot of it centred in Attica. A 56-year-old woman was killed in Ano Glyfada when a powerful torrent carried her away and trapped her under a car while she was trying to cross the road. In Astros Kynourias, a 53-year-old coast guard officer was killed while on duty, when a towering wave knocked him over and caused him to hit his head while he was trying to secure boats to a pier.
Efforts were underway the next day to reopen roads blocked by rocks and other debris carried by floodwater that had turned them into rivers. In several cases, emergency services had to intervene to help trapped drivers and citizens caught in a flooded homes.
Transport for Athens (OASA) announced emergency measures and modifications to bus services as a result of the bad weather, to better serve passengers, omitting certain stops and sections of routes.
The fire brigade in Attica received hundreds of calls for assistance and in 11 cases had to intervene to remove trapped citizens from flooded homes in Glyfada, Paiania, and Vari. There were also 364 calls to the fire brigade reporting flooding in homes.
In total, the fire brigade’s Operations Centre received more than 910 calls for assistance within the Attica Region, with 318 requests to pump flood water, 32 to cut trees, 61 calls to take people to safety, and 10 calls for the removal of objects.
The biggest problems were in the areas of Glyfada, Vari, Voula, and Vouliagmeni, while streams in Aspropyrgos and Rafina flooded their banks and nearby residents had to be moved to safety.
According to the Meteo.gr meteorological stations, more than 115 mm of rain had fallen in areas such as Vyronas, Halandri and Ambelokipi by 19:30 on Jan. 21, while in Papagou this rose to 146.4 mm of rain.
The heavy rain also affected public transport, with the police imposing emergency traffic measures, and disruptions to metro and tram services. Many roads in Attica were still closed on Thursday morning, in Nea Makri, on the coast road in Oropos and Anixi Road in Athens.
A tanker in the Perama shipyard that had started to list after an opening in the hull began to fill with water due to rough seas, was fully stabilized on Thursday morning.
More bad weather, this time mostly centred in the Aegean, is forecast on Thursday, including fierce southeasterly winds between 8-10 Beaufort.
