Greek flood sweeps away holiday home, honeymooners missing

An Austrian couple who were on their honeymoon in Greece are now missing. The heavy rain caused their house to be washed away.

Emergency services have informed the BBC that they are looking for the couple and some other people who cannot be found.

In central Greece, some people were stuck on their roofs because of floods that covered entire villages in water.

At least twelve people have died after Storm Daniel struck Greece, Turkey, and Bulgaria this week.

The couple from Austria chose to stay inside the bungalow they had rented for their honeymoon because it was raining heavily in central Greece. According to the owner of the place, Thanasis Samaras.

According to him, the house in Potistika, a beach resort near Mount Pelion, was washed away by sudden floods.

He and the other people who were visiting had gone to a safer area and told the couple to do the same.

The situation was really terrible. Samaras said that it is very hard to make a decision in a situation like that.

He said that the couple, who are from the Austrian city of Graz, got married soon after they arrived on their vacation.

The Greek firefighters are looking for missing people, including the newly married couple.

In the past few days, certain areas in Greece got a lot of rain, up to 800mm (31. 5 inches) – which is more rain than they usually get in an entire year.

The Karditsa plain in the middle of Greece became like a lake, and the villages near Palamas were covered in water.

The mayor of Palamas, Giorgos Sakellariou, went on Greek TV and urgently asked for assistance because people were trapped in their houses and were in immediate danger.

“He said the situation in Palamas is very sad,” was quoted as saying on Skai TV. People cannot leave their houses. People will drown.
The rescue efforts are being delayed because some bridges in the area have fallen down and the roads are badly broken.

The very bad weather also affected Athens and the island of Skiathos. Many tourists are stuck there, and the coastal areas near Volos and Pelion were also affected.

Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis decided to cancel a major government event that was scheduled for the weekend due to the worsening crisis.

Storm Daniel has been causing damage in Greece, Turkey, and Bulgaria since Monday. So far, more than twelve people have died, with at least four deaths in Greece.

Climate scientists have said that because of global warming, more water will evaporate in the summer and that can cause stronger storms.