People of the Peloponnese Peninsula are gathering themselves after Zorba cut a swath through southern Greece. This morning reports of damage and flooding across Attica and other regions come on warnings from Greece’s civil protection agency. Zorba is expected to affect most of Greece and appears to have changed course again toward Turkey.
Cyclone “Zorbas” took a turn northward yesterday to sidestep most of Crete and bash the southern Peloponnese, moving deeper inland as the day wore on. Heavy downpours caused some severe flooding, and in the central Peloponnese, roads were closed as rivers began flooding streets. On the coast the storm uprooted trees, capsizing or damaging yachts and fishing boats. Hardest hit was Messinia where seaside villages were inundated with floodwaters.
In Athens roads were flooded and traffic was disrupted near the city centre, as well as in coastal suburbs south of the city. Citizens there are swamping emergency crews as trees have fallen and hundreds of homes have flooded. in the last hours. All ferry services from Pireas and other ports near Athens were cancelled.
The Medicane made landfall around midday on Saturday over western Peloponnese packing intense winds, torrential rainfall, flash floods, and tornadoes. Today, the storm has weakened substantially as it treads over the mainland. Peak winds this morning are in gusts only at around 85-115 km/h range.
The eye of Zorba has just passed through Attica as the storm once again changes its course to a westerly track toward Greek isles in the eastern Aegean and Turkey. The Turkish State Meteorological Service (MGM) has now issued warnings that Zorba is expected to hit with torrential rainfall and strong winds, which are expected to cause flash flooding and major disruptions to air, land and sea transport.