Greece’s civil protection authority on high alert ahead of upcoming adverse weather

Greece’s civil protection authority is on high alert ahead of the upcoming adverse weather front expected to hit the country as of Monday.

An interministerial meeting was held on Friday at the Climate Crisis & Civil Protection Ministry, chaired by Minister Vassilis Kikilias, while more meetings are expected to be held over the weekend as updated meteorological data become available.

Representatives of the Hellenic Police, the Fire Brigade, the Hellenic National Defence General Staff, regional authorities as well as meteorologists take part in these meetings as the weather front approaches the country, paying special emphasis on the regions of Thessaly and the prefecture of Volos that were severely afflicted by the recent storm ‘Daniel’, highlighting the need for absolute readiness of the entire state apparatus, as well as of regional and local government authorities.

An emergency weather report issued on Friday by the Hellenic National Meteorological Service (EMY) forecasts heavy rainfall and storms over western, central and northern Greece starting Monday, before spreading to more areas by mid-next week.

Meanwhile in Volos on Saturday, residents were cleaning homes and businesses that were recently affected by torrential waters, mud and debris that covered entire districts from the overflowing of the Krafsidona river, while municipal crews were cleaning main streets and squares that were covered by mud, washing sewers and the drainage system so as to be able to cope with more potential heavy rainfall.

At Krafsidona river, crews from the region of Thessaly were working round the clock to clean up the river after water levels swelled by over a meter-and-a-half, as thousands of tons of stone were recently brought down from the slopes of Mt. Pelion along with tree trunks uprooted from the rushing waters, causing the floods that ravaged whole districts in the city of Volos during storm ‘Daniel’.

In the municipalities of Trikkea and Karditsa, crews were inspecting wells and pipelines in preparation for more extreme weather.

Speaking to Athens-Macedonian News Agency (ANA-MPA) on Saturday, Deputy Regional Governor of Magnessia, Dorothea Kolindrini, pointed out that “we have intervened everywhere we can, and have restored networks and communication where necessary in order to return to some normalcy. Damage at Pelion is enormous, and efforts have been made to ensure that no settlement or community is left isolated. We also built a bypass at Pouri – where the bridge fell. We are preparing for possible new problems from the [upcoming] bad weather, although experts are not yet talking about a repeat of the previous weather phenomena.”