ATHENS, Greece — Rescue crews in helicopters and boats were plucking people from areas of central Greece inundated by tons of water and mud Friday after severe rainstorms caused widespread flooding that left at least six people dead, another six missing and many clinging to the roofs of their homes.
Flooding triggered by rainstorms also hit neighboring Bulgaria and Turkey, killing a total of 18 people in all three countries since the rains began on Tuesday.
In Greece, the rainstorms turned streams into raging torrents that burst dams, washed away roads and bridges and hurled cars into the sea. Authorities said that some areas received twice the average annual rainfall for Athens in the space of just 12 hours.
Although the rainstorms had ebbed by Friday, floodwater continued to rise after the Pineios River burst its banks near the city of Larissa, one of Greece’s largest cities with a population of around 150,000, triggering evacuation orders for several areas.
“The situation is tragic,” Larissa resident Ioanna Gana told Greece’s Open television channel, adding that water levels in her flooded neighborhood were rising “minute by minute.”
Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, who canceled his annual state of the economy speech scheduled for the weekend and was visiting the flooded areas on Friday, said that he had contacted the European Union to request financial assistance from the 27-member bloc for rebuilding.
“Our first priority over the next few days is to ensure we can evacuate our fellow citizens from areas where they might be in danger,” Mitsotakis said, adding that 15 helicopters were involved in the rescue operations.
Hundreds of people were believed to be trapped in villages unreachable by vehicle as roads were washed away or severed by rockfalls. Rescue crews helped young children, the elderly and people on stretchers from helicopters as they landed in a staging area in the town of Karditsa. Local media showed scenes of devastation.
Rescuers chest-deep in water carried an elderly evacuee on a stretcher on their shoulders, while residents of villages left without electricity or drinking water dialed in to Greek television and radio stations, appealing for help and saying people were still trapped without food or water.
The fire department said that 270 people had been airlifted to safety on Thursday and Friday, while rescues continued.
Separately, the coast guard said the body of a 69-year-old man was recovered from the sea in the coastal town of Volos on Friday, but added that it wasn’t clear whether the flooding was responsible for his death. Local media reported the man slipped and fell from rocks while trying to get fresh water as the flooding had knocked out the local water supply.
Between Tuesday and early Friday, the fire department said that more than 1,800 people had been rescued and the department had received more than 6,000 calls for help in pumping water from flooded homes and removing fallen trees.
In the Pilion area, residents and tourists were ferried to safety by sea late Thursday as all access roads to some villages were severed.
Authorities have deployed swift water rescue specialists and divers as floodwaters rose above two meters (six feet) high in some areas, leaving many houses flooded up to their roofs. Residents of some villages have reported buildings collapsing completely.
The flooding followed on the heels of devastating wildfires that destroyed vast tracts of forest and farmland, burned homes and left more than 20 people dead.
