Accessibility links

Breaking News

Storm Bora floods homes, streets in Greek island of Rhodes


Cars are piled up following storm Bora in the area of Lalysos, on the island of Rhodes, Greece, Dec. 1, 2024.
Cars are piled up following storm Bora in the area of Lalysos, on the island of Rhodes, Greece, Dec. 1, 2024.

Torrential rains flooded homes, businesses and roads in the popular Greek tourist island of Rhodes on Sunday, forcing authorities to temporarily ban the use of vehicles as Storm Bora pounded the country for a second day.

On Saturday, a man died in flash floods which hit another Greek island in the northern Aegean.

The fire service received more than 650 calls to pump water out of flooded buildings on Rhodes island and evacuated 80 people to safer ground, with the city of Ialysos hit the hardest. No injuries were reported.

Cars and debris were piled up high in the flooded streets of Rhodes, with residents trying to remove mud from their water-logged properties.

"The situation is tragic, some have lost their homes, some have fled, our cars are in a terrible condition," said Sofia Kanelli in Ialysos.

Fire brigade spokesperson Vassilis Varthakogiannis told Greece's SKAI TV that the bad weather would continue Monday.

The Mediterranean country has been ravaged by floods and wildfires in recent years, with scientists saying that Greece has become a "hot spot" for climate change.

"The conditions in recent years are different; we have sudden rainfall and sudden floods," Varthakogiannis said.

In 2023, more than 20,000 tourists and locals were forced to flee homes and seaside hotels as wildfires burned for days.

Thunderstorms and heavy rain also interrupted train services in mainland Greece, especially in the center and north of the country.

  • 16x9 Image

    Reuters

    Reuters is a news agency founded in 1851 and owned by the Thomson Reuters Corporation based in Toronto, Canada. One of the world's largest wire services, it provides financial news as well as international coverage in over 16 languages to more than 1000 newspapers and 750 broadcasters around the globe.

XS
SM
MD
LG