Athens Drowns After Torrential Rainfall
Several hours of heavy rain and a thunderstorm have wreaked havoc on the Greek capital, Athens. The water has flooded roads and homes, and caused huge traffic jams whilst also disrupting the train and tram networks.
Fire department chief, Sotris Gerogakopoulos, stated, “It was one of the worst thunderstorms we have ever had in the greater Athens area.” Sotris also confirmed that the fire department had received in excess of 600 phone calls to drain water from homes and businesses.
The downpour has flooded basements and forced authorities to close the city’s central subway station and underpasses. Parked cars have even been swept away by the waters.
Dimitris Papanagiotou, the senior traffic police officer, said, “There are cars immobilised on several Athens highways and we have dispatched tow trucks to clear the roads.”
Fire chiefs have confirmed that they have around 60 crews tackling the floods at the moment, and that they hope the water will have fully rescinded by Friday. The deputy fire chief confirmed, “We have many, many problems, it’s hard to know where to begin describing it.”
A 23-year-old woman, who had been trapped in her car on a flooded road for several hours, died shortly after she was pulled free and taken to hospital. It is believed that she died of heart failure.
An abandoned house in the city center of Athens is believed to have collapsed, whilst a factory in the north of the metropolis is also confirmed to have been seriously damaged due to the fact that the floodwater eroded its structure.
