Torrential rains after summer forest fires in Greece: one dead

ATHENS (Reuters) – Torrential rains have inundated houses, businesses and roads in Greece and a man died after a wall collapsed due to bad weather, the fire brigade said on Tuesday.

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

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

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

Some 94 inmates were moved to safety after torrential rain damaged part of their retirement 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 by heavy rains onto muddy shores.

A man is missing in Volos after his car was swept away in a storm early Tuesday, firefighter spokesman Ioannis Artopoios told Skai television.

His son left, but the father was taken away and a search operation was underway.

“It is the most extreme weather in terms of the amount of rain in 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 at home.

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

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

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