Deadly Greek rainstorm leaves devastation behind
STORY: Hundreds of people were stranded without food or water for a third day in Greece...
After a devastating and deadly rainstorm caused billions of euros in damage.
Meteorologists branded Storm Daniel the worst to hit the country since records began in 1930.
It has left a trail of ruin across Thessaly in central Greece, one of the country's key breadbasket regions.
And it follows a record summer heat wave that ignited huge wildfires.
Homes were swept away by torrents, bridges collapsed, roads were made impassable, power lines fell and crops were ruined.
On Friday (September 8), authorities issued evacuation orders for three areas around the central city of Larissa.
This was amid concern that Greece’s third-longest river could burst its banks.
And President of Intercity Bus Michalis Sakelsariou says water is still rising.
“What we are living through is unprecedented. What you see behind you has happened in a very short time. A plain became a sea and we are between two rivers - one of which, at the moment, is the outer riverbed of Larissa. It has a very strong momentum which means that it continues to bring water."
During the three-day deluge, one region received more rain in 24 hours than London does in an average year, meteorologist George Tsatrafyllias said.
Several people have died from the flooding so far and the number of missing remained unclear.
Greek authorities mounted a massive rescue operation, deploying helicopters to winch people off rooftops, as well as inflatables.
The storm dealt a blow to the country which emerged from a decade-long debilitating debt crisis in 2018.
But Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said the economy could withstand the disaster.
Scientists say Greece is on the front line of climate change, with freak weather incidents increasingly common.
