Storm ELIAS is testing with floods the residents of the island of Evia since the early morning hours of Wednesday. The severe weather phenomena flooded whole villages mostly in the northern part of the island and sent people on roof tops.
Bridges collapsed when rivers and streams overflowed, landslides blocked the roads network, and trees fell on electricity cables triggering power outages in several areas which face also problems with the water supply, too.
Traffic in areas is currently considered as “extremely dangerous,” as a landslide in Derveni has cut the central road axis from the south to the north of Evia.
Machines are working feverishly to remove the rubble which looks as if a ‘whole mountain’ of rocks and other material have literally gathered in the area.
Video: A series of lightning turned night into day
Nightmarish hours in Pefki, Istiaia and Robies villages
“We are trapped. The volume of water from the mountains is large and the rain continues to fall without stopping”, a resident of Pefki told lamianow.gr.
Rivers have surged in the tourist resort of Pefki coursing through the settlement and leading to the entrapment of several people. Emergency crews are engaged in efforts to evacuate and relocate individuals to safe locations. a number of houses have been inundated, and trees were toppled due to the powerful winds.
In Rovies,residents speak of “total destruction,” as the rushing waters of four overflown streams passed through the village, flooding 40 houses and causing incalculable damage.
Limni Mayor Giorgos Tsapourniotis characterized the situation as “dangerous” and urged residents to limit travel. He stated that the western part of the municipality, stretching from Rovies to Limni, is now strewn with debris, “as the entire mountain has cascaded into the settlements.”
In Mantoudi the situation is nightmarish as the water height exceeded one meter. The rainfall that continues since the early hours of the morning is considered unprecedented for the region, while the torrents that arrive there carry materials from the mountains and deposit them in various places.
In Psachna, the torrents swell and everyone does their best to withstand the great pressure they are under.
Worth noting that the massive wildfires in Evia in 2021 destroyed 50,000 hectares of forests on the mountains with the effects that rainwater easily passes through the burned down forests to the inhabited areas.
The fire brigades operate in Evia with over 50 firefighters and 28 vehicles, EMAK rescuers and other teams, and tries to rescue as many people possible and to pump waters from flooded homes and businesses.
Special teams from Central Greece are expected to arrive to Evia to assist the local firefighters there.
According to the weather station in Istiaia, 210 cubic meters of water per hectare fell since the early hours of the morning and 230 cubic meter per hectare in the broader area.
Storm weather Elias reached Athens and the Attica region late on Tuesday, and residents spent the night in the company of thunder noise and flash.
No serious problems were caused except the usual flooding in some main roads in Athens and Piraeus.
Fire Brigade spokesperson Vassilis Vathrakoyannis state to state broadcaster ERT, that the storm had not caused serious problems in Thessaly so far, while heavy rain and thunderstorms had been recorded in Fokida, Evia and Evritania.
Scattered showers fell in the Peloponnese, with the heaviest rainfall in the mountainous areas of Corinth. The rain in the eastern parts of Achaia and the Ionian island was not especially intense.
sources: eviathema, eviazoom, evianews and others