Cyclone Zorbas expected to hit Greece today

After the phenomenal Xenophon weather system that brought the cold, wet front to Greece earlier this week, meteorologists are predicting a cyclone dubbed Zorbas, which is expected to move in from the south, affecting the Peloponnese, Crete, Attica and eastern Evia as well as much of the Aegean on Saturday.

According to meteorologists, winds in the eye of the cyclone will reach 11 on the Beaufort scale and are expected to create 11-meter waves in the high seas.

Conditions are forecast to ease from late Saturday afternoon as the cyclone moves away.

According to the latest update by the National Observatory of Athens weather service meteo.gr, which released models of the Mediterranean hurricane's expected course and rainfall intensity over the next 48 hours, the eye of the Medicane is expected to reach the south shores of the Peloponnese between 15:00 and 18:00 on Saturday.

Schools in the Peloponnese, Attica and other areas of Greece were shut on Friday as a precaution though ferries in the Saronic Gulf were running normally on Friday morning, with the exception of two scheduled hydrofoil journeys in the early morning.

Passengers are advised to contact port authorities or their travel agents before departure to ensure that scheduled journeys will be taking place.

The meteorological service was monitoring the phenomena and will give regular updates, he said.

Authorities are urging the public to show extra caution and carefully follow the instructions of state emergency services on how to protect themselves from the oncoming storm.

Bad weather brings problems with fires, power cuts and trains

A fire broke out on Friday in Spiatza, in the vicinity of Pyrgos in Ilia, Peloponnese due to the bad weather. Fire-fighting forces are currently battling to keep the flames from reaching the first houses in the settlement, while their work is made hard by strong winds blowing in the area.

Meanwhile, several forests that have been burning on the island of Kefalonia for the last two days are now partially under control, the fire brigade said. The fire had seriously threatened the village of Kremmydi during the night but all homes were saved, while another village had been evacuated on the island on Thursday.

Power cuts have also been reported in various areas of southern Attica due to the bad weather on Friday, including Sounio, Anavyssos, Keratea and Varnavas.
Earlier, there were power cuts in the northern Athens suburbs of Marousi and Iraklio, where electricity has now been restored.

The problems were mainly due to trees and branches falling onto PPC power lines and infrastructure due to the strong winds.