Five dead, two missing in Greek floods

ATHENS: Five people including a baby died and two more were missing as torrential rains and floods swept the Greek island of Evia, damaging dozens of houses and blocking roads, officials said on Sunday.

The eight-month-old baby was found dead in a house in the village of Politika on Sunday, a fire service spokesman said. The baby’s parents were unharmed.

Hours earlier, a man and woman, both in their 80s, were found unconscious by firefighters in two houses in the same village, the spokesman said. They were confirmed as dead at the hospital.

“Five people have died and two are missing,” said deputy minister for civil protection Nikos Hardalias.

Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis voiced his “profound pain for the loss of lives” and said he would visit the island, Greece’s second largest after Crete, on Monday.

Torrents of water blocked roads in the west of Evia, which lies about 100 kilometres (60 miles) northeast of Athens. Some tourists were unable to leave one campsite on the island, the ANA news agency said.

Storm Thalia battered several regions of mainland Greece on Saturday, though the weather was improving on Sunday. Hundreds of homes were flooded in Politika and several surrounding villages. Blocked roads prevented fire trucks from reaching the affected sites. Two rivers burst their banks and filled roads with mud, local authorities said.