(Reuters) – At least nine people died on Wednesday as torrential rains caused flooding in Greece and Turkey, authorities in both countries said.
In Greece, firefighters announced that storm Daniel, which has hit the country since Monday, has caused at least two deaths in the center of the country and that three people are still missing.
The storm also affected the country’s infrastructure, destroying a bridge, causing the collapse of electricity poles and carrying away dozens of cars.
The body of an elderly woman was found under a pile of wood on Wednesday, a firefighter told Reuters. The day before, a man died following the collapse of a wall caused by the weather in the port city of Volos.
A Reuters witness said the river near the Volos retirement home engulfed the road and flooded a train station, disrupting rail traffic.
Police have issued traffic warnings for the towns of Trikala and Karditsa as the storm is expected to intensify later on Wednesday.
In Turkey, the national Anadolu news agency said at least seven people had been killed in the floods, including two in Istanbul.
Five people have died and one person is missing in Kirklareli province, near the border with Bulgaria and Greece, local media reported.
Authorities said two more people were killed and 31 injured in Basaksehir and Kucukcekmece districts, north of Istanbul.
About 125 kilograms per square meter of precipitation fell on Istanbul in less than six hours, equivalent to the volume of all precipitation usually recorded in September, the governor’s office said in a statement.
Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said search and rescue operations were underway and promised to offer financial support to families living in flooded areas.
(Lefteris Papadimas and Stamos Prousalis in Athens, Burcu Karakas in Istanbul; French version Victor Goury-Laffont and Augustin Turpin, edited by Blandine Hénault)
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