ATHENS: Firefighters backed by the army were rescuing hundreds of people on Saturday in villages in central Greece blocked off by floods that have claimed at least 10 lives.
“More than 2,850 people have been rescued since the beginning of the bad weather,” fire department spokesman Yannis Artopios said.
“There are still many people in the villages around Karditsa, Palamas and towards Trikala. They are not missing, they are trapped,” he said, adding that six people were officially missing.
Several houses remain under water in the village of Palamas and rescue workers were trying to reach marooned people.
“We were stuck without help or information for hours. The emergency services 112 message to evacuate arrived just as we were facing up to the flooding and we had no means of escape,” said 54-year-old Palamas resident Eleni Patouli.
The situation also remains worrying near the city of Larissa, a few kilometres to the east.
The flooding has laid waste to thousands of hectares of rich agricultural land and farmers have also lost substantial livestock numbers.
In the port city of Volos, the water supply has become a problem, since pumping stations and a large part of the supply network were damaged. The health ministry has warned that the water is not suitable for drinking.
“Gastroenteritis cases have appeared and there is a risk of that increasing if people don’t have enough water. Authorities need to distribute at least two litres of drinking water to everyone,” Elena Riza said, a professor of epidemiology at the University of Athens School of Medicine.
Traffic also remained challenging on Saturday with the highway connecting Thessaloniki, the country’s second largest city, and the capital Athens cut off in several places.
The storm, named “Daniel”, struck the central coastal region of Magnesia on Monday and Tuesday before hitting other towns such as Karditsa and Trikala further inland. — AFP
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