A waterspout, or sea tornado, forming above the Greek island of Naxos.
© Naxos PressA waterspout, or sea tornado, forming above the Greek island of Naxos.
Heavy rains, waterspouts and other extreme weather phenomena, including flooding on Crete, were recorded around the Greek islands in the Aegean on Wednesday as much of the country experienced severe storms.

Just past noon on Wednesday, a waterspout, also called a sea tornado, was visible hovering over the sea around the Cycladic island of Naxos. These rotating winds appear to reach down to the sea and take it up as they spiral into the air, but in reality the water inside the spout originates in the clouds above and snakes its way down to the sea.



This shocking weather phenomenon thankfully had a rather short duration in the seas around Naxos, as it soon moved away and toward the neighboring island of Paros.

In Crete, extremely heavy rainfall on Wednesday caused widespread flooding around the city of Heraklion. This comes after a bout of destructive hailstorms in the area was experienced on Tuesday.






Many roads, especially those along the seashore, were closed, since they had become completely flooded by Wednesday afternoon.


According to local press, there have been reports of citizens trapped in their homes because of the rising flood waters.

Citizens are urged to remain home and to avoid driving, in order to stay safe during the dangerous flooding.