Bulgaria/ Greece: flood death toll rises to 8/ serious flooding kills 3

07.02.12.
People were evacuated from the residential district of Gebran in Svilengrad amid the flood crisis in southern Bulgaria on February 6 2012.

The floods, which caused eight deaths in the area of the village of Bisser in the Harmanli district after a dam wall broke, resulted from a combination of heavy rainfall and washing away of thick layers of snowfall from lower altitudes.

The death toll around Bisser was reported to be eight. Damage to houses and surrounding property is extensive as surrounding land was inundated.

In the Gebran district of Svilengrad, water had risen to about 1.5 metres in depth, local news agency Focus said.

A "Code Red" weather warning was declared in the Haskovo and Smolyan districts, the Interior Ministry said.

Railway transport has been suspended on the Radnevo-Lyubenovo-Simeonovgrad-Harmanli and Harmanli-Svilengrad-Lyubimets stretches.

Along with the flooding crisis came a warning that weather in the Haskovo weather would worsen in the coming 24 hours.

Teams and equipment of the Ministry of Interior, Bulgarian Red Cross, Ministry of Environment and Water and the Ministry of Agriculture and Foods have been mobilised in the areas affected by flooding.

The European Commission stands ready to help people in affected areas, provided such assistance is requested.

If needed, Brussels can send tents, blankets, generators, heating and special rescue equipment. The European Commission is in constant contact with the Bulgarian Government, Bulgarian television station TV 7 said.

"If the Government's assessment is that there is a need for European support, we can offer three things: firstly - to provide for the affected people, if necessary, tents, blankets, if you need, generators if there are power cuts," European Commissioner for crisis response Kristalina Georgieva said.

"Secondly - we will give 50 per cent funding for transport to bring modules. Thirdly – we have informed our Finnish colleagues, we have a special module to work to rescue people in the cold, in extremely severe winter conditions at very low temperatures. And if we receive a request for co-ordination of aid from Europe, we will immediately do so," Georgieva said.

Bulgarian Prime Minister Boiko Borissov said that the Cabinet would approve a grant of aid to the victims of floods in the Haskovo region.

Apart from the Code Red weather warnings declared, most the rest of Bulgaria faced a Code Orange weather warning for February 7, with a few facing the lesser Code Yellow warning.

http://www.sofiaecho.com/2012/02/06/1760736_floods-in-bulgaria-evac...

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Serious flooding provoked by heavy rainfall and hailstorms in the Peloponnese and northern Greece has caused massive damage as well as claiming the lives of three people.

Apart from the 82-year-old woman who was found drowned near her home in the village of Lithari on Sunday, a 75-year-old motorcyclist was killed on the Ionian island of Corfu when he was struck by a tree uprooted amid strong winds, and in the village of Avlaki in Aetoloacarnania, a 75-year-old woman was crushed when an outdoor structure collapsed under the weight of the snow that had accumulated on it.

In northern Greece, several homes were flooded, with the prefectures of Xanthi and Rhodope particularly badly hit.

The Peloponnesian prefecture of Ileia, which has still not recovered from massive forest fires that devastated the region in 2007, suffered major damages over the weekend due to extensive flooding.

Authorities had declared a state of emergency in the prefecture’s capital of Pyrgos on Sunday and had sought to divert the waters of the River Alfeios, which broke its banks following the heavy rainfall, to tributaries.

The regional fire service continued to receive dozens of calls from citizens seeking help for flooded basement stores or homes yesterday.

Meanwhile state inspectors started the tough job of assessing the extent of the damage -- to homes, public property and farmland. Their task was hampered by fresh rainfall which is set to continue, according to meteorologists.

In Attica, stormy weather led to several roads being closed due to flooding and knocked out the power supply in several neighborhoods, especially in southern and western Athens. The fire service was inundated with calls, chiefly reports of trees uprooted by winds reaching 10 on the Beaufort scale. Similar problems were reported in several smaller cities.

A number of scheduled ferry departures were canceled yesterday as gale-force winds in many parts made it too dangerous for ships to sail. Ferries are expected to remain moored in port today, irrespective of the weather, as seamen have said they will join a 24-hour strike called by labor unions.

http://www.ekathimerini.com/4dcgi/_w_articles_wsite1_1_06/02/2012_4...