Two dead, one missing as Mediterranean hurricane Ianos batters Greece

Xinhua
19 Sep 2020, 15:21 GMT+10

ATHENS, Sept. 19 (Xinhua) -- Two persons were killed in a rural area in central Greece and a third person went missing on Saturday, as the Mediterranean hurricane "Ianos" continued to batter Greece, the national news agency AMNA reported.

The victims, an elderly Greek woman and a 63-year-old Albanian working as a stock breeder, were found at the outskirts of the cities of Farsala and Karditsa respectively in the Thessaly region, one of the most affected by the rare meteorological phenomenon in Greece.

A 40-year-old woman was missing, after the car she was driving was swept away by waters near an overflowing river, AMNA reported.

Storms with strong winds have been sweeping across parts of the country since Thursday night. In the Ionian islands and western Greece's coastal regions on Friday, they left material damage behind, sank boats and flooded farmland.

On Friday evening the extreme weather phenomenon reached central Greece with rivers and reservoirs overflowing and the fire brigade intervening to transfer dozens of people stranded in cars and houses to safe places.

Power failures and problems in telecommunications were also reported, while train services connecting Athens to northern Greece were disrupted and parts of regional roads were damaged.

On Saturday the adverse weather conditions reached Attica with no major problems reported so far.

The General Secretariat for Civil Protection has repeatedly issued warnings since Wednesday urging citizens to be especially careful until Sunday, as the extreme weather front was forecast to hit the Aegean Sea islands in the coming hours.

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