Fatalities and Severe Flooding as Storm ‘Daniel’ Hits Greece

Two people died during the storm ‘Daniel’ that swept through Greece on Tuesday, bringing record-breaking amounts of rainfall, particularly in Thessaly.

According to the Fire Brigade, an 87-year-old woman who had been missing since yesterday in the Paltsi area of Magnesia region was found in a pile of wood. Eight firefighters successfully recovered her body. Her husband, 85, who was also reported missing, was found safe on Wednesday, as confirmed by the police and firefighter sources.

Additionally, a 51-year-old man lost his life when a wall collapsed due to the excessive amount of water on Tuesday.

There are still reports of two men missing in the Magnissia region – one aged 70 and another aged 42 – as well as a foreign shepherd in Lefki, Larissa region. Furthermore, a 42-year-old man who was swept away by floodwaters in Aghia Ekaterini of Volos is also unaccounted for.

On Wednesday, police reported that a livestock farmer in Domokos, central Greece, was missing according to his relatives. They stated that he had left in the morning to tend to his animals but did not return.

Traffic has been severely impacted by the storm and flooding, causing the interruption of a section of the Athens-Thessaloniki National Highway from Nikea in Larissa to the borders of Magnissia prefecture. Traffic diversions have been implemented to safer roads. Other sections of the national road network and northern Evia island have also been affected, with power disruptions occurring after trees fell on power poles. In Fthiotis, near Domokos, heavy rain has led to traffic diversions on the Lamia-Domokos road, and the residents of Sofiada village have refused to evacuate. In eastern Fthiotis, near Pelasgia, torrents of water have caused significant damage, including sweeping away cars and heavily damaging the paper mill of PAKO.

Floods in the Karditsa prefecture have resulted in several evacuations, including Palamas, Ambelonas, Fyllos, Psathochora, and Metamorfossi. The water drainage systems are unable to handle the massive volume of floodwaters, and the dam at Yperia has broken.

In Athens, temporary interruptions in traffic occurred in both directions on Pireos Street (from Petrou Ralli to Chamosternas) and on Possidonos (from the exit to Syngrou Avenue) in the direction towards Glyfada. In the coastal town of Voula, traffic was also temporarily disrupted on Konstantinou Karamanli Avenue, from the Asklipio Hospital of Voula towards Athens.

Satellite images from the European satellite Sentinel-1, captured on Wednesday morning, reveal extensive flooding in a significant part of Thessaly’s plain, a major agricultural region. Even in areas with less rainfall, water flowing down from the Pindos mountains has caused flooding in local communities.

According to data provided by Sentinel-1, Kofi in Magnissia received 457 mm of rainfall in the last 48 hours. During the same time period, Thessaly recorded the following rainfall numbers: Pezoula 414 mm, Mouzaki 397 mm, and Karditsa 391 mm.