Greek PM postpones keynote speech after deadly storm
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[September 07, 2023]
By Angeliki Koutantou and Louisa Gouliamaki
ATHENS (Reuters) - Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis has
postponed an annual economic speech scheduled for this weekend and will
instead visit areas hit by torrential rain that has flooded homes and
destroyed key infrastructure, the government said on Thursday.
At least three people died and four were still missing on Thursday after
storm Daniel, pounding Greece since Monday, triggered landslides,
destroyed roads and power poles and carried away dozens of cars in muddy
waters in the mainland port city of Volos and the surrounding
mountainous Pelion area.
Mitsotakis, a conservative who won a second term in July, was expected
to outline his main economic policy in a speech opening the annual
International Trade Fair in the northern city of Thessaloniki on
Saturday, followed by a press conference on Sunday.
"Our country is facing for the third day a phenomenon unlike any other
we have seen in the past," government spokesperson Pavlos Marinakis told
a press conference on Thursday.
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"The scheduled speech by the prime minister and the usual news
conference... are being postponed for the middle of next week," he said,
adding that Mitsotakis would visit the affected areas over the weekend
instead.
Heavy rainfall, which came days after a two-week deadly wildfire died
out in the north and authorities said was the most extreme on record,
has turned many villages in the low-lying area of Karditsa, in the
mainland Thessaly plain, into a lake.
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Greek television showed houses submerged in flood water in the town
of Palamas, near Karditsa, while some people stood on roofs waiting
for help.
Dozens of people were trapped inside their flooded residences, the
mayor of Palamas, Giorgos Sakellariou, told Open television.
A fire brigade official said that emergency crews assisted by the
army and coastguard used lifeboats in an effort to reach storm-hit
villages in Karditsa, where water was 2 metres (6.5 feet) deep.
"Operations are been carried out very carefully as flood debris
obstructed the boats, while, in other cases, the power of the water
does not allow us to approach," fire brigade spokesperson Vasilios
Vathrakogiannis told a briefing.
Government spokesperson Marinakis said that aircraft could not offer
any help to the affected areas for now as they were not allowed to
fly due to thunderstorms.
British travel company Jet2 said on Wednesday it was cancelling all
flights and holidays to the Aegean island of Skiathos, the closest
to Volos, up to Sept. 12 due to the weather.
Flash floods in Greece in 2017 killed 25 people and left hundreds
homeless.
(Writing by Angeliki Koutantou; Editing by Alex Richardson)
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