The heavy rainfall in Greece on Friday left one person dead and widespread destruction in buildings and cultivated fields, the Deputy Regional Director of Ilia, in NW Peloponnese, told Athens-Macedonian News Agency (ANA-MPA) on Friday.
Vassilis Giannopoulos said that the man who died was in his car when it was carried away by flood waters in Vrachnas, northern Ilia. In addition, Vergas river overflowed despite having been cleaned and heavy machinery was called in to avert the flooding of Manolada, in a major producing region of Greece, he told ANA-MPA. Initial information he received said that cultivated fields, homes, stores, businesses and storage areas had been flooded in the towns of Andravida-Kyllini, Pinios, and Ilida.
Flooding in the Kourtessi area necessitated the shutdown of the national highway between Patras and Pyrgos for nearly half an hour, the official said, while in Vartholomio several roads were flooded. "Students in the primary school had to be removed by civil protection and 4x4 vehicles," while facilities for younger children were evacuated for precautionary reasons in Varda.
All regional agencies are on alert, Giannopoulos said, ahead of more rain and thunderstorms forecast in the coming days.
Source: ANA-MPA
