New operation under way to help residents in cut-off Karditsa village

Civil protection authorities were carrying out a new operation on Tuesday to reach around half a dozen residents in a small rural village in Karditsa, central Greece, who have been stranded since a powerful cyclone slammed into the area on Saturday.

The operation comes in the wake of a failed attempt to evacuate the residents of Oxia by helicopter on Monday, though rescuers were able to deliver packages of food, drinking water, medicines and other necessities to the village, which has been without power or water.

Oxia was cut off by widespread damage to the surrounding road network caused over the weekend by storm Ianos, which also wiped out bridges and flooded more than 21,000 hectares of the Thessalian Plain, including thousands of homes and businesses in the city of Karditsa, as well as farms and factories.

Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis embarked on a visit to the area on Tuesday morning to meet with local officials and assess the damage first-hand.