Thousands of tons of water poured over Thessaloniki yesterday morning for three hours. Based on information given by meteorologists, 20 000 thunders had lid the sky during the storm!
"In contrast to summer storms, which continue for about half an hour, yesterday's storm continued for three hours - between 03:00AM and 06:00AM. The rain water in Thessaloniki rose to 40 centimeters above sea level, when the normal level for August is 20cm," says Dr. Mihalis Sutas from the Meteorological Applications Center. As a result of the huge quantity of water, the flash flood phenomenon occurred and the streets turned into rivers. "In cases like this the soil and sewerage cannot take the water in. 30cm of water are enough to cause damages to homes and streets," explains Dr. Sutas.
According to scientists during the past few years the number and strength of thunder storms over Thessaloniki have increased. Not only that streets sink under water after each thunder storm but citizens get scared because thunders pierce the sky. Usually August in this region is believed not to be the "thunder month." The more you go south the more the rain and thunder period increases. For example, on Crete this period continues all year round.
On the following morning, after the storm, many store owners found their goods swimming in water and many car owners found their cars few meters away from where they parked them the previous night. The fire department answered 200 calls for draining basements and during the morning the traffic on the Thessaloniki ring road and on some main boulevards was stopped. Until late in the afternoon employees of the municipality were cleaning the streets from branches and other garbage brought by the rain.
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