Galery

1

The Greek authorities have declared a state of emergency in the regions of Epirus and Evritania in northwestern and western Greece after massive floods and landslides were caused by heavy rainfall over the past two days.

Personally and on behalf of his government, prime minister Alexis Tsipras extended moral support to the people of the region, stressing that the main objective is that no human life be placed at risk.

In the region of Arta, the damage caused by heavy showers that started on Saturday morning is enormous, including the collapse of the bridge in the Plaka area connected with significant events in Greek history. With a 40.20 m circumference of its arc and a height of 21 m in the middle, it is considered the largest single-arc bridge i8n the Balkans.

The villages located near the mouth of the Arahtos river were preventively evacuated as water levels have risen sharply after the release of the reservoir in the Pournari region.

All 80 residents of the mountain village of Krikeli in the Evritania area were evacuated. Civil Defence and other relevant government departments are in a state of heightened alert for the launching of rescue operations, since according to meteorologists rains are expected to continue today.

Extensive damage has been caused throughout Aetolia-Acarnania. Several villages in the municipalities Thermos and Navpaktia are inaccessible. A number of cars have been blocked on roads, but according to competent authorities nobody's life has been in jeopardy.

Traffic on secondary roads has been hampered almost throughout Greece. Due to the floods, traffic has been suspended since early morning in both directions on the Egnatia highway in the Kalamia-Kila section (or 200th km) of Kozani, southwest of Thessaloniki.

Rainfall in northeastern Greece has also flooded the Ardas river valley near Kastanies.