After ripping its way across the Ionian islands and the Greece mainland, cyclone Ianos slashed across Crete island last night. The so-called “medicine” flooded central Greece killing two people on Friday.
NOA said cyclone Ianos is now on an easterly course. In Athens the Deputy Minister of Civil Protection, Nikos Hardalias said Athens was not so badly affected, but that other regions were more severely hit. He told Kathimerini yesterday:
“The weather system seems to be weakening in the region of Attica but we must remain vigilant in the region of Arcadia, in Leonidio especially, in Argolida and in Kythira.”
Zakynthos, Kefalonia, and especially Ithaca were hit the hardest with the Hellenic Electricity Distribution Network Operator struggling to keep the power network up. Meanwhile, here in Heraklion, the streets outside our offices turned into raging rivers on account of severe thunderstorms. Even though the storm had lost most of its intensity, the cyclone dumped inches of rain on summer sun dried Crete.
Elsewhere in Crete, rains were heaviest in Chania Prefecture to the south as the storm cut east and southeast across the island headed out into the Libyan Sea toward Egypt. Heavy winds and rain are expected throughout today. Northerly gusts of up to 8 Beaufort locally will be accompanies by heavy seas in the south of Crete throughout Sunday.