Extensive damages in Halkidiki waterfront from storm Bettina

Winds blowing with intensity of 11 Beaufort swept along the coast of Kassandra leg in Halkidiki peninsula over the weekend damaging pedestrian zones in the villages of the mainly touristic area.

Badly affected have been the villages of Siviri, Hanioti, Pefkohori and Polychrono where piers were cracked, trees uprooted and parts of the sidewalks have been detached.

“We have never seen such big waves before,” locals told media claiming that they were up to 12 meters high.

Concerned about the state of their summer houses in Kassandra, residents of Thessaloniki drove into the area for inspection.

via halkidikinews.gr

Mayor of Kassandra, Anastasia Halkia, has called for a state of emergency to be declared, as the passage of bad weather has caused enormous damage in several areas on the coastal front.”The waves reached up to 20 meters from the shore,” she added.

Halkia stressed that there has been extensive damage that must be immediately repaired, nevertheless because the area is visited by thousands of visitors every year. The state respond immediately in order to provide the necessary funding for the restoration of the damages, she added.

“It is a situation that unfortunately repeats itself, since the same thing happened in 2019 and 2021 in similar extreme weather events”, Halkia told local website voria.gr

Members of the municipality technical service started to check the damages already on Monday.