Storms cause problems in Pieria, northern Greece

Heavy storms caused floods in many parts of northern Greece on Monday and into the early hours of Tuesday, but particularly in the region of Pieria, where the mayor of one of the hardest-hit municipalities said that the emergency messaging system was out of order.

“The 112 [emergency number] was not working, unfortunately. We didn’t receive any warnings even though we were in constant communication with the Civil Protection authority, which knew about the bad weather. There was nothing from 112 this time,” Vangelis Geroliolios, the mayor of Dion-Olympus, told state broadcaster ERT on Tuesday, referring to the emergency number that sends messages to cellphones in affected areas warning of dangerous conditions and advising on evacuations.

“People were frightened… But, thankfully, we didn’t have any casualties,” he said.

“Using all of the municipality’s available machines, we managed to rescue eight citizens who were trapped in flash floods on roads that had turned into streams,” Geroliolios added, describing what he called a “very difficult night.”

“We are now looking at the scope of the damage, in the light of day,” he said, estimating that significant resources will be needed to repair roads, bridges and other infrastructure.

According to ERT, the Fire Service received some 40 calls for help in Dion-Olympos and other parts of Pieria, one of which was to rescue an elderly woman from her flooded house and another to get three women trapped in a car in a flooded road to safety.