Severe Weather Causes Extensive Property Damage Across Greece

Hours of thunderstorms and heavy rain have been reported in many parts of western Greece since early Friday, including many of the Ionian islands, causing floods and widespread disruptions to travel and communications.
The weather front, according to the Meteo weather service of the Athens National Observatory, is going to move slowly eastward and affect almost all of Greece, with the exception of the island of Crete, during Friday and Saturday.
Schools on the Ionian islands of Ithaca and Cephalonia were closed on Friday due to the severe storm that hit the islands early in the morning.
Schools there were closed as a precautionary measure, for fear that there would be extensive flooding.

The village of Saint Euphemia (Agia Ephimia) on Cephalonia was the worst hit area, being flooded once again on Thursday evening and Friday morning, just days after another heavy rainfall caused extensive flooding on its main streets.

Lightning strikes and heavy rain were reported not only in Western but in Eastern parts of the Greek mainland as well.
The city of Volos in the Magnesia region n the east coast of Greece experienced the most severe thunderstorms of any region of Greece at around 11 o’clock on Friday morning.
The extraordinarily heavy rains, which began to fall late on Thursday, and are still continuing, have also caused problems in the region of Ioannina, in Epirus.
An 80-year-old man had a narrow escape when the road collapsed under him as he was attempting to drive his car through the village of Kato Zalogos.
The elderly man was fortunately able to be extricated from his vehicle by local villagers, who rushed to the scene.
Serious weather-related problems were also reported in other parts of the Ioannina regional unit, including landslides, rockfalls, and flooded rivers and streams, which carried thick mud and debris as they swept along.
The storms, including continued heavy rainfall, are expected to affect the region of Attica and Athens in the afternoon of Friday and authorities warn people to continue to be cautious.
At around 3 o’clock local time, a strong hailstorm hit downtown Athens, without causing any severe disruption.
With information from AMNA