A brutal weather system has descended on Greece, killing two people through floods and waves while triggering red alerts in key areas. Northern regions lead the crisis, but the impact spans the nation with furious rains, winds, and snowfalls.
Fueled by a potent low-pressure core, the storm delivers flooding rains to plains, tempests everywhere, and accumulating snow aloft. Emergency red codes activate in Attica and five other zones, confining people indoors per official mandates.
Intense showers overwhelmed central Athens and Attica by midday Wednesday, flooding streets and halting transport. Meteorologist Dimitris Giakopoulos revealed, ‘Forecasts underestimated this—Spetses got 100 mm, Megara and Attica over 140 mm total.’
Southern Peloponnese mourned a coast guard officer lost to raging seas at Astros Kynourias port, battered fatally on the head. In Athens suburb Glifada, floodwaters claimed a woman trapped in her submerged car.
Responses include shutting schools in vulnerable districts, pervasive road blockages stranding vehicles, and ferry suspensions nationwide. The chaos paints a vivid picture of vulnerability.
January 22 promises more: overcast with rain and thunder in western Greece, Cyclades, Crete, Dodecanese, Aegean sectors, eastern Macedonia-Thrace. Fiercest in northern/eastern Aegean morning, Dodecanese afternoon. Fleeting snow in central/northern highlands.
Freezing starts Thursday: Volakas, Nea Zichni, Parnassos at -5°C; Vlasti -4°C; Pontokerasia -3°C; Drama -2°C. As the nation confronts this natural fury, emphasis shifts to resilience, aid, and heeding warnings to avert further loss.