Traffic banned on Skiathos due to storm
Residents on the Sporadic island of Skiathos have been urged to limit their movements after storm Daniel turned road into flooded torrents.
Shortly before 1 p.m., police decided to ban all vehicular traffic and a 112 emergency text alert was sent to all cellphones on the island.
Local media said the island’s mayor requested that a state of emergency be declared due to the severity of the weather phenomena, which has been characterized by intense lightning and heavy rainfall since the early hours.
Traffic was also banned in the central town of Volos and the nearby mountain region of Pilion until the storm subsides, police said.
The fire department said one man was killed in Volos when a wall buckled and fell on him, while another man was reported missing, believed to have been swept away by floodwaters.
Authorities also sent alerts to cellphones in several other areas of central Greece and the island of Evia, warning people to limit their movements outdoors due to the storm.
Local media reported that torrential rainfall caused streams to break their banks and turned roads into rivers, sweeping cars into the sea in the Pilion area.
The national weather service said the Pilion region was forecast to receive about 650 to 700 millimeters of rain over Tuesday and Wednesday, while 550-600 millimeters were forecast for the central town of Karditsa.
The weather service noted that the average annual rainfall in the capital of Athens region is around 400 millimeters.
The storm was forecast to cause heavy rainfall and storms, accompanied by hail, thunder and strong winds in the Aegean.
The extreme weather comes on the heels of major wildfires over the past few weeks, with some burning for more than two weeks and destroying vast tracts of forest and farmland. More than 20 people were killed in the fires. [AP, Kathimerini]
