Two Greek islands declared disaster areas after night of floods
Pastor Dale Morgan
Two Greek islands declared disaster areas after night of floods*
ATHENS, Oct 18 (AFP) Oct 18, 2006
Two Greek Aegean islands and an entire prefecture in northwestern Crete
were in a state of emergency on Wednesday after overnight storms flooded
homes, businesses and hotels across the region, the Greek Civil
Protection Authority said.
The Greek fire department was called out to drain water from dozens of
buildings and rescue people trapped inside their cars in Hania
prefecture on Crete, a major tourist destination attracting thousands of
visitors every year.
Flood-related damage was also reported across the northern coast of
Crete in the cities of Heraklion and Rethymnon, and on the islands of
Astypalaia and Leros, the civil protection authority told AFP.
"With the amount of mud that washed down, it is fortunate that we do not
have any victims," Aegean Minister Aristotelis Pavlidis told NET state
television.
On Astypalaia, local police rescued an elderly man carried away by
rushing water, and local authorities said landslides had clogged some of
the island's roads.
"The road network has been damaged, some parts are actually dangerous to
drive on," Astypalaia mayor Panormitis Kontaratos told NET state television.
A planned damage-assessing visit by the minister was delayed on
Wednesday because of poor weather, which also forced the cancellation of
a local flight between the islands of Rhodes and Kastellorizo, NET reported.
The southern Aegean was struck by a storm front on Tuesday with
gale-force winds that reached 10 points on the Beaufort scale,
disrupting traffic between the Greek islands and forcing many ships to port.
Most scheduled services from the Athens ports of Piraeus and Rafina were
cancelled on Wednesday, with an exception made for ships sailing to the
Saronic Gulf islands a short distance from the capital, the merchant
marine ministry said.