Storm Agneta floods Rhodes, prompts emergency alert and school closures

Storm Agneta swept across Greece on Monday, flooding streets on the island of Rhodes and sending emergency crews into action in three other areas, as authorities sent a 112 alert and shut local schools.

Civil Protection sent the alert to people on Rhodes shortly after 03:30 local time, after torrential rain raised water levels and flooded parts of the Archangelos area, Kathimerini reported. The message told residents and visitors to limit travel and follow guidance from local authorities. Video filmed in the area showed the force of the flooding, Proto Thema reported.

Rhodes municipality kept classrooms shut for the day in Archangelos and Afantou, citing the risk to pupils and staff travelling to school in the storm. Fire crews pumped standing water from three locations on the island, felled one tree that had come down, and helped two people reach safety.

Elsewhere, Greece's fire brigade logged 58 emergency calls by Monday morning from the Dodecanese islands, Samos and the mainland port of Volos, Naftemporiki reported. Samos accounted for 28 of those calls, with crews running ten pumping jobs to clear flooded ground, according to Kathimerini's English-language edition. Volos generated a further 12 calls, leading to seven pumping operations and two tree removals, while Kalymnos needed one pumping job and one tree cleared.

The National Meteorological Service, EMY, revised the severe-weather bulletin it had first issued on Saturday, extending its warning of heavy downpours, storms and possible hail into Tuesday. Forecasters flagged the Ionian islands, Epirus, the western and southern Peloponnese, central and eastern Macedonia, Thrace and the northern and eastern Aegean as the areas most likely to see further bad weather before the storm clears, with the Ionian islands and Epirus expected to see the rain ease by Tuesday afternoon.