Torrential rain follows summer wildfires in Greece, one killed

ATHENS (Reuters): Torrential rains have flooded homes, businesses and roads in Greece and a man died after a wall collapsed in the bad weather, the fire brigade said on Tuesday.

Storm Daniel has battered western and central Greece since Monday, prompting hundreds of calls to emergency services to pump out water just days after a deadly wildfire that has burned for more than two weeks was brought under control in the north of the country.

“The man died after a wall collapsed near Volos city, probably due to bad weather,” a fire brigade official told Reuters, without providing any more details.

According to the Athens News Agency, the wall collapsed when the man, a cattle breeder, was trying to reach his animals.

About 94 inmates were moved to safety after torrential rain damaged part of their nursing home in Volos, another fire brigade official said.

Footage from state broadcaster ERT showed cars in Volos, a port city on the Pagasetic Gulf, washed away by the heavy rain onto muddy shores.

A man has been missing in Volos after his car was swept away by the rainstorm earlier on Tuesday, fire brigade spokesperson Ioannis Artopoios told Skai television.

His son came out but the father was carried away and a search operation was ongoing.

“It’s the most extreme weather in terms of the amount of rainfall within 24 hours since records have been kept in the country,” Climate Crisis and Civil Protection Minister Vassilis Kikilias said in a statement, urging people to stay indoors.

Authorities have restricted traffic in Volos and the nearby mountainous area of Pelion where the storm has caused extensive power cuts.

Flash floods in Greece in 2017 killed 25 people and left hundreds homeless.