Floods and landslides due to Storm Elias in Greece: local rainfall exceeding 200 mm | Instagram VTM News

look. Storm Elias brings lots of rain and thunder

The extension of the low pressure area high in the atmosphere was interrupted by a ridge of high pressure (dashed line) that formed over Europe. This isolated piece of low pressure over the eastern Mediterranean then gradually moved towards Greece.

_{Read more below the picture}

It’s currently calm there, with moist air blowing landward across the Mediterranean. This creates an unstable and very stormy weather pattern with thunderstorms and persistent heavy rainfall. This low pressure area was named Ilias.

Storm Elias began yesterday with heavy rains in western Greece. Locally, nearly 100 liters of water per square meter fell in some places. In the town of Makramomi, the largest amount of rain was recorded around eight o’clock yesterday evening, at a rate of 91 liters per square metre. In Kalavrita, people had to take shelter from heavy rain and cold, as seen in photos posted on social media. Yesterday, the Meteorological Department indicated that the intensity of rain expected for that day falls under Category 3 (on a scale of 5).

_{Read more under the social media post.}

Today, Storm Elias takes things to a higher level. The system is strengthening and will be present over the center, south and east of the country. People are now talking about Category 4 in terms of rain intensity. If we look at the past 30 years (the period from 1991 to 2020) in Greece, of the 1,374 days with severe weather, barely 3 percent (41 days) reached Category 4.

The storm system has already caused a lot of inconvenience locally today. In Limni, 219 liters per square meter has fallen since midnight. For a whole month, 370 liters fall there. In other towns in Evia, precipitation measures currently exceed 100 litres. Streets turned into raging rivers in several places, roads were closed, and landslides were reported.

_{Read more under social media posts}

The rainfall amounts currently calculated by weather models are not as high as Storm Daniel, but they are still concerning. Moderate forecasts estimate between 200 to 300 mm over the next 48 hours, while more extreme forecasts reach 500 mm or even a little more. For comparison: the average in Belgium is 910 mm per year. In July 2021, up to 300 mm fell in 3 days in some places. In central Greece, normal annual rainfall is only 500 mm, indicating that expected amounts are still very high.

The main focus of precipitation is expected to be in and immediately south of areas recently impacted by Storm Daniel. There will also be rain tomorrow. After the afternoon the storm will decrease in intensity again.

_{Read more below the picture.}

The storm Daniel is still fresh in the minds of the Greeks. On September 4 and 5, massive amounts of rain fell from the sky, leading to severe flooding. In some places in central Greece, the annual amount of precipitation fell in less than two days. Nearly 73,000 hectares were flooded, most of which was agricultural land. There were also ten victims.

Some experts suspect that a number of permanent lakes were formed during the floods, while erosion and siltation left by the floods meant that the soil was no longer fertile for nine to ten years. It is expected that many farmers will migrate to other regions. Daniel then developed into a doctor in many emergency situations in Libya.

look. Storm Daniel caused severe damage in Greece

Scientists say the fact that these types of exceptional amounts of falls in Greece could be linked to climate disruption. Global warming makes what happened in Greece in early September ten times more likely. This may appear from a study that has not yet been peer-reviewed Global weather attribution. People in affected areas will also be more vulnerable to these types of storms due to construction in flood zones, deforestation, and neglect of dam maintenance.

Greece may receive heavy rain, except for the British Isles and Scandinavia, and will remain dry in most parts of Europe in the coming days.

weather forecast. Late summer is not over yet: a dry and sunny day with temperatures reaching 24 degrees

After the chaos in Greece, and now the fear of thousands being killed in Libya: What is a “paramedic”? The expert explains (+)

Storm Daniel claimed the life of a third person in Greece, and left many people missing: “There has never been so much rain in one day.”