A 62-year-old man has died on the island of Rhodes as Greece is hit by a second wave of severe rainfall and gale-force winds in two weeks.
ATHENS: A man died on the island of Rhodes Wednesday as Greece was hit by a second wave of strong rainfall and gale-force winds in two weeks.
The 62-year-old died when his car was swept out to sea in the east of the island, the fire service said.
The civil protection ministry on Tuesday had warned of “heavy rains and thunderstorms… expected in most parts of the country (to Wednesday) which will locally be accompanied by very gale-force winds”.
The Ionian Sea islands, the Dodecanese islands, the Peloponnese, the Halkidiki peninsula in the north and the island of Evia were among the areas set to be worst-affected, the ministry said.
Emergency authorities on Wednesday warned residents to limit movements in Rhodes, Evia and the Sporades island group in the Aegean.
The severe weather disrupted most ferry connections.
Schools in several affected areas were shut as a precaution. Archaeological sites on Rhodes were also closed, with parts of the island’s road network sustaining damage from rockslides.
The storm wave is the second to hit Greece this month. In early October, floods caused major damage to infrastructure, crops and livestock on the island of Crete.
A 79-year-old shepherd was found dead on Crete and a 58-year-old German tourist died after being struck by lightning on a Rhodes beach at the time.