Galery

2

1

A homeless stranger who died of cold was found this morning in the park of Tisio. Although the Center for shelter and solidarity to the City Hall in Athens has helped homeless people by supplying 40 places in the city with sleeping bags, blankets and food, this proved insufficient and there is a victim of the bad weather. Due to the need of warm shelter because of bad weather, the centre’s building on 35, Piraeus Avenue announced that it could shelter all homeless wishing.

It snowed but the snow in the centre of Athens and its environs quickly melted. There was tension in people's expectations of emergency and schools in the northern suburbs closed. Kifiziya residents told that it snowed all night but the traffic wasn’t hampered. Although an owner of a small shop had to shovel in front of his booth in the morning, there was no sign of the heavy snowfall at noon and only a pile of snowflakes on the ice cream freezer reminded of the snowy night.
  
While there was more panic among Athenians than a real upheaval, the situation in other parts of the country really was extraordinary. Villages in the areas of Karditsa and Fthiotida have been isolated because of heavy snowfall, and many roads and highways are closed. Many areas of the country remained without electricity and the ferries to the islands stopped sailing due to stormy winds. Over 170 people only in Attica have called the fire-brigade but most of the calls were about removing fallen trees from the roads.

The islands of the Sporades are facing serious problems with electricity because of the collapse of a power pole in the Pelion Mountain which did not withstand the weight of fallen snow. There have been power failures in Skiathos, Skopelos and Alonissos since Monday morning and the Public Power Corporation tried to solve the problem and to put on the current until last night. The failure is partly repaired, but many of the islands remained without electricity and the parts where the current is on fear that they may remain in the dark again.

There was power failure on the islands of Andros and Tinos, but auxiliary power stations were put on. The Public Power Corporation opened a hotline 210-9298100 and by calling it citizens can get informed about failures in the power network.

There were no problems on the roads yesterday and on Monday evening, and many of the roads in Greece are not difficult to pass with snow chains. The traffic up from the lift in Parnita is stopped and the Phillies Avenue to Dervenohoria and Ethniki Antistasi Avenue in Kesariani to the top of the Imitos Mountain was closed for some time.

The ferries to the islands do not sail because of the strong winds that reached the 10^th grade on Beaufort scale. Sea waves broke into the stores along the coastal promenade in Karlovasi on the island of Samos, causing extensive damage. Employees of the City Hall put sandbags at the entrances of the shops and port officials and police have banned movement of vehicles at the port and on the promenade.

The Ministry of Infrastructure, Transport and Networks started investigation to find out who is responsible for the traffic jam with thousands of cars along the Athens-Lamia highway on Monday evening. Currently two officers of the service supervising the roads are suspected. The Ministry will seek responsibility from the company Nea Odos which undertook the management of this part of the highway. The company was requested to present an action plan in the event of bad weather, so as to ascertain whether it was sufficiently effective and if it has been implemented. They said from the company that 50 snow-ploughs operated that night and about 2500 tons of salt were thrown on the highway. But six trucks were blocked, and many cars had mechanical failure and were stuck along the side emergency lane, which prevented the snow-ploughs to get immediately to the places where there were problems. And the police also banned the movement of heavy vehicles as late as 11:30 pm on Monday.

Lower temperatures are expected today too and the streets in Northern and Western Greece will be slippery with ice. It will snow in Thrace, the Sporadic islands and Euboea and the other islands on Thursday, but by noon the weather will warm up. Clear weather is expected on Friday and Saturday but in the southeast Aegean there will be winds of 7^th grade on Beaufort. On Sunday, temperatures will climb and reach normal values for this season of 14-15 degrees.