Brits trapped in Greek island killer floods tell of terror
Brits trapped in Greek island killer floods are forced to stay in high-up hotel rooms as ‘streets are turned to rivers’, while those who made it to airport are locked in and told there’s no escape until Thursday
- Hundreds of holidaymakers are trapped on upper floors of hotels with no water
- One man has died amid the flooding and five people are missing, police reported
- Are YOU caught in the Greek floods? Email: [email protected]
Hundreds of tourists are stranded on a Greek holiday island as terrifying flash floods and torrential rainstorms lash the country – with many ‘trapped’ inside their hotels as emergency services warn them to stay inside.
Victoria Jolley, 25, who is stranded with her family in a hotel near the old town on the island of Skiathos, told MailOnline of her terror at watching the storm surge blast through the town’s streets below her room.
‘Cars, quads and debris are being swept away and streets have been turned into rivers… I’ve never seen anything like it before.
‘It is scary… we have the good fortune to be in a high room. Ground floor rooms have flooded. Fortunately our hotel walls had flood defences,’ she said.
‘We’re also without water to our apartment. It’s very upsetting seeing the damage that’s been caused.’
Other desperate Brits have taken to social media to beg for help after being left with power cuts, ‘no way to get food’ nor methods of communication after severe flooding struck the small island east of the Greek mainland.
Tourists stuck with no electricity described the situation as ‘horrendously scary’ and say there have been no flights in or out of the airport, which is just over a mile from the flooded town centre of Skiathos.
Jet2 said the horrendous conditions left them with no choice but to cancel all flights from Britain to Skiathos on Tuesday and Wednesday, leaving hundreds stranded inside the airport and unable to leave.
One person has been confirmed dead in Greece amid the flooding so far, but at least five more people are missing, possibly swept away by floodwaters.
‘Cars, quads and debris are being swept away and streets have been turned into rivers… I’ve never seen anything like it before!’ one Brit holidaymaker said
Quadbikes and cars are seen being swept away
The ground floor of hotels were flooded while cars struggled to turn through the streets
The floods created chaos at the airport where tourists have been stranded for hours and not allowed to leave
Many flights to and from the UK have been cancelled amid the flooding
Streets in Skiathos have been completely submerged by floodwater, with business owners working to salvage tables and chairs at what are usually bustling restaurants
Residents desperately try to remove debris from a flooded area in the town of Volos, central Greece
Footage shared by locals shows gushing water inundating the Skiathos town’s streets
Flood waters overrun a street and flood a hotel in Skiathos
One British holidaymaker told MailOnline he and his wife were due to fly back to the UK at 8pm last night but their flight was cancelled and they received little information from TUI as to when they can expect a new one.
They are currently stranded at their hotel with no power and ‘food is running low’. Locals are also being accommodated for at the hotel after the floods destroyed their homes on the beach.
‘Food supplies are running out at the hotel. No more can be supplied because the road by our hotel has collapsed.
‘The rain has been heavy for around 36 hours. Our hotel is now homing local families who have lost theirs on the beach,’ he said last night.
Police have ordered all residents and tourists to stay off the streets and the island’s mayor has put in a request to declare a state of emergency following the ‘biblical rain’, local media reported.
Authorities sent phone alerts in several other areas of central Greece, the Sporades island chain and the island of Evia warning people to limit their movements outdoors as the storm sweeps across the country.
Streams overflowed their banks and swept cars into the sea in the Pilion area, while rockfalls blocked roads, a small bridge was carried away and many areas suffered electricity cuts. Authorities evacuated a retirement home in the city of Volos as a precaution.
Greece’s weather service said a Pilion region village received nearly 30 inches of rain late Tuesday, by far the highest level recorded since at least 2006. It noted that the average annual rainfall in the Athens region is around 15.75 inches.
The country’s minister of climate crisis and civil protection, Vassilis Kikilias, said the heavy rain was not expected to ease up until Wednesday afternoon.
The storm comes on the heels of major summer wildfires that hit Greece over the past few weeks, with some burning for more than two weeks and destroying vast tracts of forest and farmland. More than 20 people were killed in the fires.
Authorities have been sending alerts to cellphones in several areas of Greece. Pictured: A screenshot from a British holidaymaker’s phone on Tuesday evening
Desperate Brits are begging for advice after finding themselves stranded on the flooded island of Skiathos or the surrounding islands
Footage shared by locals shows fast moving water rushing through the the streets of Skiathos, where just days ago Brits were enjoying the end of their summer holidays.
Holidaymaker Emma Taylor said that fearful hotel staff asked guests to check out of their rooms if they were due to fly home.
They were then allowed to check back in again if their flights were cancelled, as many have been, she said.
The mother said: ‘This is a serious storm. Flooding in our hotel corridors, ceilings, power cuts, and we’re lucky as we’re up high at the Skiathos Palace, Koukounaries. Some guests have been asked to check out of their rooms.’
Emma, whose daughter is celebrating her 22nd birthday today on the holiday island, said her family are trying to make the most of it amid electricity outages, flooding and torrential rain outside.
She told MailOnline that the whole experience has been ‘dramatic and stressful’ and that she and her family have been ‘trapped’ inside their hotel.
Dangerous sea conditions forced ferries to and from the island to be halted, leaving many passengers unsure whether they will be able to catch their flights home over the next few days.
Jet2 said in a statement on Tuesday evening: ‘We are aware of the weather conditions affecting Skiathos, and we are closely monitoring the situation with our customers best interests in mind.
‘As a result of the conditions, which are completely outside our control, we have taken the decision to cancel all flights that are due to depart to Skiathos today and tomorrow (five flights in total).
‘This is in addition to one flight from London Stansted to Skiathos which diverted to Thessaloniki because of the weather yesterday, where customers have been provided with hotel accommodation. This flight will return customers to the UK tomorrow (Wednesday 6th September).
‘We are contacting all affected customers and they will of course receive a full refund.’
Pictured are boats and cars being washed away by severe flooding sweeping across Skiathos
Storm Daniel has battered eastern parts of Greece, including Skiathos island
Footage shows a car being swept away as huge rolling waves crash into the pier in Agios Ioannis
The travel operator earlier advised customers on X that staff are ‘aware of the weather conditions currently affecting Skiathos’ and ‘are monitoring the situation very closely with our customer’s best interests in mind’.
Storm Daniel is causing severe flooding across the region, with people being ordered off the streets.
Footage shared on social media shows a car being swept away as huge rolling waves crash into the pier in Agios Ioannis, a village on the east side of the mainland.
Residents in the central mainland town of Volos and the nearby mountain region of Pilion have been told to not leave their homes as a severe storm hit the area, turning streets into flooded torrents.
The ban, which covers all except emergency services and roadside assistance vehicles, will remain in place until the storm subsides, police said.
One man was killed in Volos when a wall buckled and fell on him, while another man was reported missing, believed to have been swept away by floodwaters, firefighters said earlier today.
Cars are pictured battling rising water as people wade through it in the city of Volos
Floodwaters submerge a car and surrounding houses in Milina village, Pilion region, central Greece
Underwater: Floods have ripped through streets in Volos, Greece, as storms lash the country
Dramatic videos and pictures have revealed the scale of the floods sweeping through Volos in Greece
A man is pictured attemting to drive his motorbike through flood waters in Volos
A man is pictured clearing debris off the road following a flash flood in Volos
Pictured are fast flowing stream waters that have risen during a heavy storm in the city of Volos
A fallen tree pictured in a flooded river during the brutal storm in the city of Volos
The extreme weather comes on the heels of major wildfires that hit Greece over the past few weeks, with some burning for more than two weeks and destroying vast tracts of forest and farmland. More than 20 people were killed in the fires.
A massive blaze raging over the last two weeks destroyed swathes of the Dadia national park in the northern Evros region.
Artopios told AFP that the Dadia fire front, raging since 19 August, was ‘under control and no area was active’.
‘Firefighters are staying in position to survey the situation,’ he added.
Classified by experts as a ‘megafire’, the blaze raging in Dadia destroyed more than 81,000 hectares (200,155 acres) of the forested area, protected by the European agency Natura 2000.
The devastation in Dadia accounts for almost half the total area burned by wildfires in Greece since the start of the summer, according to the European climate service Copernicus.
Like several Mediterranean countries, Greece faces fierce wildfires every summer, which this year left 26 people dead and at least 150,000 hectares burned.
Officials rescue a man after the downpour caused floods and stream overflows in Demirkoy district of Kirklareli, Turkiye
A car washed in the sea at Arapia camping near Tsarevo at the Bulgarian Black sea coast after heavy rains led to flooding
Two people died and one more was missing as torrential rains hit Bulgaria’s Black Sea coast on Tuesday
Elsewhere, floods have struck the Black Sea region, with at least two people confirmed dead in Bulgaria.
Heavy downpours in parts of Turkey have also seen rivers bursting their banks and confirmation that two people have been killed, with rescue officials jumping into action in the latest natural disaster to hit the country this year.
Spain has also been struck by Police and rescue services searched on Tuesday for three people missing after devastating floods hit central Spain as trains to the south resumed after thousands of passengers were left stranded.
The torrential downpour that swept over large swathes of Spain on Sunday and Monday, caused by a so-called cut-off low phenomenon, left three people dead and wreaked havoc on transport infrastructure, shutting roads, subway lines and high-speed train connections. The heaviest damage was in the provinces of Toledo and Madrid in the country’s centre.
Local authorities, the army’s emergency response corps, firefighters and law enforcement officers were working to ‘guarantee the stability of a key pipeline in the system supplying water to more than 270,000 people in the south of Madrid and Toledo’, Environment Minister Teresa Ribera told reporters.
Ribera was speaking from the town of Aldea del Fresno, southwest of Madrid, which was devastated by the flooding of the Alberche River.
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