Greek storm floods Athens: Floods, school closures, and traffic disruptions
The Greek capital Athens and large parts of the country experienced a severe weather wave, as a powerful storm caused an almost complete paralysis of daily life, prompting authorities to take urgent precautionary measures, most notably closing schools on Friday and suspending some public activities.
Details of the storm and its impact on Athens
The storm swept across multiple parts of Greece, but the greatest damage was concentrated in the greater Athens area. Torrential rains caused flash floods that inundated main and secondary roads, severely disrupting transportation. In a press statement, Kostas Tsigas, a member of the fire department union, explained that the western part of the Athens area was the hardest hit, receiving "tons" of rainwater that carried debris and mud, blocking many major thoroughfares.
The authorities' response and the army's intervention
To address this critical situation, authorities were forced to temporarily close the highway leading to Corinthia to ensure public safety. Tsegas confirmed in a statement to public television that heavy military equipment had been deployed to assist in clearing obstacles and reopening blocked roads, indicating the seriousness of the situation on the ground and the difficulty of managing it using conventional methods alone.
Record numbers and sporting effects
The storm peaked on Thursday, with the Athens National Observatory recording a staggering 245 mm of rainfall in the western parts of the capital between Thursday and Friday. This extreme weather also disrupted sporting events, forcing organizers to cancel a highly anticipated EuroLeague basketball game between Greek side Olympiacos Piraeus and Turkish club Fenerbahçe, due to the impossibility of reaching the stadium and ensuring the safety of fans and players.
Climate context and the recurrence of extreme phenomena
This storm comes within a broader climate context affecting the Mediterranean basin, where meteorologists and climate experts have repeatedly warned of an increasing frequency of extreme weather events. Greece, by virtue of its geographical location, is particularly vulnerable to such deep low-pressure systems, which often bring several months' worth of rainfall in just a few hours. Scientists link this intensity of rainfall to global climate change, which is warming the Mediterranean Sea, thus generating additional energy for storms.
Infrastructure and public safety challenges
Despite the severity of the phenomenon, Nikos Chrysouilelos, Athens' deputy mayor for climate affairs, told local radio, "The phenomenon is extremely severe, but so far, we have not recorded any major damage in Athens." This statement underscores the importance of preparedness and early warning systems. Such events highlight the ongoing and urgent need to upgrade stormwater drainage infrastructure in historic and densely populated cities like Athens, to ensure its capacity to handle record volumes of water and minimize the economic and social risks resulting from disruptions to public life.
