Severe flooding in Greece leaves at least 6 dead and 6 missing, villages cut off

Widespread flooding in central Greece left at least six people dead, six missing and dozens trapped, with severe rainstorms turning streams into raging torrents, bursting dams, washing away roads and bridges, and hurling cars into the sea.

Flooding triggered by severe rainstorms also hit neighboring Bulgaria and Turkey, with rescue teams in Turkey on Thursday recovering the body of a 53-year-old man who had been missing since floods gushed through a campsite near the border with Bulgaria, sweeping away bungalows. The recovery brought the death toll in Turkey to eight, and to a total of 18 in all three countries since the rains began Tuesday.

In Greece, authorities deployed divers and swift water rescue specialists as residents in some villagers took refuge on the roofs of their homes to escape floodwaters that rose to more than 2 meters (6 feet).

Around 60 people were airlifted to safety, the fire department said, including some who told local media they had spent the night and most of Thursday on roofs without food or water. The helicopters, which were continuing with rescue operations in the wider Karditsa area, had been unable to fly earlier due to frequent lightning, authorities said.

At least three villages in central Greece were completely cut off by floodwaters, with residents dialing in to radio stations to report homes collapsing and to appeal for rescue.

The body of one man missing for a day was recovered from a stream on Thursday, and hours later the fire service said it discovered the bodies of two women in the Karditsa area. The three deaths brought the country's overall toll from the floods to six since Tuesday.

Vassilis Kikilias, Greece's minister for climate crisis and civil protection, said more than 885 people had been rescued so far and six were reported missing. The military said it had deployed more than 25 boats to rescue people trapped by floodwaters, while seven helicopters and a military transport plane were on standby.

"Our country finds itself, for the third day, dealing with a phenomenon the likes of which we have not seen in the past," Greek government spokesman Pavlos Marinakis said, noting that some areas received more than twice the average annual rainfall of Athens in the space of 12 hours.

"The state's absolute priority at the moment is the rescue ... of people from the areas hit by the bad weather and the protection of critical infrastructure," Marinakis said.

Fire department spokesperson Vasilis Vathrakogiannis said swift water rescue specialists and divers from the department's disaster response units, as well as the army, were participating in rescue efforts and trying to reach remote areas despite roads having been washed away.

The death toll from severe flooding in central Greece rose to 10 people Friday, while another four remained missing, the country's civil protection minister said. Rescue crews in helicopters and boats ferried hundreds of people from inundated villages to safety.

Flooding triggered by rainstorms also hit neighboring Bulgaria and Turkey, killing a total of 22 people in all three countries since the rains began Tuesday.

In Greece, the rainstorms turned streams into raging torrents that burst dams, washed away roads and bridges and hurled cars into the sea, and many of the flooded areas were left without power or drinking water. Authorities have said some regions received twice the average annual rainfall for Athens in the space of just 12 hours.

Although the rainstorms had stopped by Friday, floodwater continued to rise after the Pineios River burst its banks near the city of Larissa, one of Greece's largest cities with a population of around 150,000, triggering evacuation orders for several areas.

"The situation is tragic," Larissa resident Ioanna Gana told Greece's Open television channel, adding that water levels in her flooded neighborhood were rising "minute by minute."

Climate Crisis and Civil Protection Minister Vassilis Kikilias said the Pineios River levels were "keeping us on constant alert."

"Great care must be taken by all as the flooding could intensify at any moment," he said.

By late Friday, officials said that more than 2,500 people had been rescued, including 420 plucked from the flooded areas by helicopter from 14 villages.

More than 1,000 rescuers and 20 helicopters were involved in the operation, including three Swiss helicopters that had been in Greece to assist in efforts to battle recent deadly wildfires. They were being used to ferry food and water to inundated villages, Kikilias said.

Much of the affected region was fertile farmland where key food crops are grown, and experts have voiced fears that the overall cost of the flooding could significantly exceed 1 billion euros ($1.06 billion).

Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, who canceled his annual state of the economy speech scheduled for the weekend and was visiting the flooded areas on Friday, said that he had contacted the European Union to request financial assistance from the 27-member bloc for rebuilding.

"Our first priority over the next few days is to ensure we can evacuate our fellow citizens from areas where they might be in danger," Mitsotakis said.

Hundreds of people were trapped in villages unreachable by vehicle as roads were washed away or severed by rockfalls. Rescue crews helped young children, the elderly and people on stretchers from helicopters as they landed in a staging area in the town of Karditsa. Local media showed scenes of devastation.

Rescuers chest-deep in water carried an elderly evacuee on a stretcher on their shoulders, while residents of villages left without electricity or drinking water dialed in to Greek television and radio stations, appealing for help and saying people were still trapped without food or water.

In the Pilion area, residents and tourists were ferried to safety by sea late Thursday as all access roads to some villages were severed.

Two of the four people still listed as missing Friday were a young Austrian couple who vanished from Pilion's coast. Residents said they had come to Greece to be married and have their honeymoon, and were probably swept away with the bungalow they had been staying in when floodwaters struck on Tuesday.

Authorities have deployed swift water rescue specialists and divers as floodwaters rose above two meters (six feet) high in some areas, leaving many houses flooded up to their roofs. Residents of some villages have reported buildings collapsing completely.

A slow-moving storm brought torrential rainfall and strong winds to parts of Spain from 02 September 2023. Emergency crews have responded to thousands of incidents across the regions of Catalonia, Valencia, Andalusia, Castile and León, Castilla-La Mancha and around the capital, Madrid.

As of 04 September, authorities had report numerous evacuations, high-water rescues, missing persons and fatalities.

In a 24-hour period to 03 September, the storm, referred to as "Depresión Aislada en Niveles Altos," or DANA, by Spanish authorities, dumped 217.7 mm of rain in Alcanar and 243.4 mm of rain in Mas de Barberans, both located in Catalonia. The total seen in Mas de Barberans is the highest in 23 years.

Other areas of the country also saw significant rainfall totals during the same period, according to figures provided by the State Meteorological Agency AEMET, including:

San José del Valle, Cádiz: 172.2 mm

San Rafael, Segovia: 147.8 mm

Estación de Tortosa (Roquetes), Tarragona: 117.2 mm

Villanueva de la Cañada, Madrid: 104.9 mm

Cebreros, Ávila: 96.0 mm

Toledo, Toledo: 91.8 mm

La Pobla de Benifassà-Fredes, Castelló/Castellón: 83.2 mm

Five dead, three missing after storms damage Spain

A search and rescue is underway to find three people missing after a deadly storm triggered heavy flooding in Madrid and Toledo killing at least five, official say.

In the province of Toledo, south of Madrid, the bodies of three men were recovered on Monday, the government of the Castilla-La Mancha region said.

One of the victims died inside a vehicle and another was found dead in a garage lift. The body of a 50-year-old was recovered from a stream.

Over the weekend, two men aged 31 and 34 died after drowning in raging water while trying to climb a gorge in north-eastern Spain.

Meanwhile, a search was continuing for a man who was travelling with his wife and two children in the Madrid region on Sunday evening.

Their vehicle was swept away by the waters of the Alberche river, which had burst its banks. The wife and daughter were able to save themselves while 10-year-old son was able to take refuge in a tree and was found there after several hours.

Besides the father, at least two further people were still missing on Monday.

Over the weekend Spain was hit by storms with raging winds, heavy rain, lightning and hail.

Flights were delayed and railway traffic was suspended, leaving hundreds of passengers stranded at train stations in Madrid, Malaga and other cities.

Many roadways, streets and parks were closed, while countless houses and garages were flooded with water and mud. Parts of facades and roof tiles fell onto the streets and trees were uprooted.

In Catalan municipality of Alcanar, a total of 215mm of rain was recorded on Sunday, according to the meteorological office, with the roughly 10,000 residents banned from leaving their homes for several hours due to dangerous flooding.

In Madrid, underground rail services and road traffic were still impacted by the storm's aftermath. Emergency services in the Madrid region have so far dealt with 2157 incidents and firefighters have conducted 1390 operations.

Madrid and Castilla-La Mancha are set to ask the Spanish government to declare a disaster area in the affected municipalities.