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The bad weather raging in Greece since Sunday has claimed four lives. A 82-year-old woman died on Sunday in the region of Ilia on the Peloponnese peninsula in an attempt to leave her flooded house. Another 75-year-old woman was crushed last night by a slipping shelter due to the large amount of fallen snow. A motorcyclist died in Corfu, hit by a thunderstruck tree. A 40-year old British woman drowned on the island of Simi, while trying to cross a creek that had suddenly overflowed.
    The region of Evros in Northern Greece is in a state of emergency because of the huge amounts of water the rivers Maritsa, Arda and Tundzha are bringing to Greece. The first flood is now underway in the northern area along the border with Bulgaria. The authorities are prepared to evacuate four villages - Ormenio, Dikea, Nea Visa and Marasion. The villages of Pitio and Prangi are also threatened by flooding water. Civil defence urges farmers to take livestock and agricultural machinery to a safe place. The authorities advise citizens not to go out unless absolutely necessary, whether on foot, by car or agricultural machine and not to try to pass through flooded areas if they are not sure how deep the water is.
    The evacuation of villages will be carried out with the help of the army, police and local municipalities.  There is an active movement of fire fighting forces in the region and many ambulances are deployed there too. Authorities expect serious flooding, even more dangerous than the disaster that hit Evros in 2006. Then, the torrential floodwaters of the rivers from Bulgaria reached 1800 cubic metres per second. Today, the expectations are for floodwaters of 2100 cubic metres per second.
    Meanwhile, bad weather covered the whole of Greece last night. Stormy winds closed the airport in Ioannina where dozens of flights were cancelled. Many roads from the national network remained closed for hours due to landslides caused by torrential rains. There are landslides along the Athens-Thessaloniki highway and some sections were closed on Tuesday morning. Bad weather has reached the Peloponnese peninsula too. Snow chains are necessary along the Kalamata-Sparta road because of heavy snow. Three villages in the region of Tripoli are isolated due to the flooded roads connecting them with the rest of the peninsula. The governor of the Peloponnese Petros Tatoulis said the damage caused by floods in recent days has not yet been estimated, because it is still snowing and the danger of new flooding has not yet passed.
    A strong storm last night caused blackouts in many neighbourhoods in Athens as trees fell hit by lightning fell and broke four power lines. The islands Andros, Tinos, Tilos and Simi, and the cities Antirio and Metsovo remained without electricity.