Two people have died after flash flooding swept across the Greek island of Crete over the weekend.
According to The Guardian, the body of Kostas Vergakis was found in his car on Saturday, where he was trapped as severe storms struck the Greek island.
The discovery led to a extensive search operation for the vehicle’s passenger with rescue workers recovering a second female body on Sunday in the Mediterranean off Agia Pelagia, a seaside resort north-west of Crete’s capital, Heraklion.
The victim, a 49-year-old mother of two, had been swept into the sea as she tried to get out of the car while it was washed away by the floods.
These deaths come after the weekend storm unleashed the equivalent of four months’ rainfall in a matter of hours on coastal villages, flooding roads, shops and homes.
Footage emerged of cars and other debris submerged under seawater in Agis Pelagia and Sitia in the east of the island, where a state of emergency was declared.
The Mayor of Sitia, Giorgos Zervakis, said he has “never seen anything like it.”
“The situation is out of control,” the Mayor added. “There have been landslides, roads are closed, areas are impassable because of cars and streets have turned into rivers.”
A Greek government taskforce has since visited Crete on Sunday and announced a package of support measures that will include a 400,000 euro compensation package with immediate effect.
Greece’s Alternate Interior Minister, Stelios Petsas, expressed his condolences for the deaths of the two people swept away by the flood water, and pledged that the government will do everything possible to help survivors “get back to normality” after the damage caused by the flash floods.
Source: The Guardian.
