In Greece, which is barely recovering from uncontrollable fires, torrential rains that could lead to flooding began on Monday.
Greece is once again on alert in the face of Storm Daniel. This Monday, the National Observatory of Athens, the Greek Meteorological Institute, classified the rainfall falling on the country in the highest risk level: Category 5, described as “extreme”.
This violent phenomenon comes at a time when the massive fire that has been ravaging Dadia National Park in northeastern Greece for two weeks is close to being brought under control.
“Following the ongoing fire danger, the weather service is warning of severe storms that are likely to hit our country in the coming days,” warned the government spokesman.
“The authorities are on alert (…) and we ask citizens to carefully follow the instructions given,” he added.
More than 500 mm/m2 in three days?
At 6:30 p.m. local time on Monday, 103 millimeters of water per square meter were recorded in the Pelion region in the east of the country and more than 7,000 flashes were captured by the observatory’s recording system.
And this rainfall is expected to increase in the coming days. According to the public institute, heavy rainfall over time “may lead to flooding in places”.
Forecasts suggest more than 500 millimeters of water per square meter will fall in the central mountainous regions of Phthiotis and Magnesia between Monday morning and Wednesday evening.
The National Observatory of Athens also reports increasing winds, a significant drop in temperature and the continuation of thunderstorms until Thursday, with improvement from the evening.