Storm Elias brought a burst of torrential rain to the Greek city of Volos and the island of Evia on Wednesday, causing damage to roads, flooding to homes and power outages.
This follows the recent deadly storms and floods that took place in central Greece earlier this month, where 16 people died in Volos in the Mount Pilon area. Damage from the storm was estimated to exceed 2 billion euros.
According to AP News, Storm Elias saw at least eight villages evacuated late Wednesday afternoon due to rising floodwaters, causing people to be banned from using the roads. 140,000 people were warned to remain indoors.
After receiving hundreds of calls for help in Volos, the Greek fire service issued evacuation warnings for many living in these areas who were severely impacted by the storms.
This has now led the Greek government to look at climate change more deeply.
“Adaptation to the climate crisis is a fundamental priority in all our policies,” Greece’s Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said in a Cabinet meeting on Wednesday.
AP News said Greece has now been promised emergency funding from the European Union to fund damages called by the previous wildfires and current floods in Greece.
Source: AP News
