The floods destroyed homes and businesses and swept cars out to sea.
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“The heavy rain was caused by a “blocking” pattern in the upper atmosphere”, said weather.com meteorologist Tom Moore. “There has been a persistent flow of moisture around the low from the Mediterranean and Ionian Seas into Greece”.
According to BBC, a woman is missing after she abandoned her destroyed house in northern Greece.
Flash floods ravaged Greece this week as more than 5 and a half inches of rain fell in just one hour on Wednesday morning.
The southern Peloponnese city of Kalamata, but also Thessaloniki in the north were left severely affected.
The worst casualties were in and around the south-western city of Kalamata, where a disabled woman aged 63 and a man of 80 died in their basement homes. “It hasn’t stopped raining since yesterday at lunchtime”. Greek authorities said three people are dead and one is missing after the floods, which damaged homes and businesses in the southern Peloponnese region.
Thermaikos mayor Yiannis Mavromatis appealed for the area to be declared in a state of emergency. Rescue crews reported they received more than 1,000 distress calls and rescued 74 people.
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Pictures shared on social media showed vehicles stacked on top of each other in narrow streets in Kalamata, the second most populous city in the southern Peloponnese region.
