In total, the operational headquarters of the fire department received 422 calls from Wednesday, January 25, until 06:00 today due to heavy rains and thunderstorms, accompanied by strong winds, hail, and snow.

These calls mainly concern pumping water, rescue from elevators, cutting down trees and taking people to safe places.

Specifically:

• In the region of Attica, the Fire Brigade Operations Center received 210 calls, while action was taken in 127 cases, mainly to pump out water, remove people from elevators and transport people, mostly drivers, to safety.

• In the region of Central Macedonia, 25 calls were received and actions were taken in 23 cases, mostly related to pumping water.

• In the region of Western Greece, 50 calls were received and action was taken on 29 occasions, mostly to pump water.

• In the area of ​​the Ionian Islands (Zante) 100 calls were received and action was taken on 52 occasions, mostly to pump water.

• In the region of Thessaly, 15 calls were received, and in 8 cases measures were taken to pump out water and cut down trees.

• In the Peloponnese area, 22 calls were received and action was taken on 14 occasions, mostly to pump water.

It is noted that, according to the updated bulletin on dangerous weather events, published yesterday, Thursday, January 26, 2023, by the National Meteorological Service (EMY), hazardous events are expected until today, Friday.

Specifically:

1. Heavy rains and storms are predicted until early morning in Thrace, the northern islands of the Aegean and the eastern Cyclades, until the morning hours on the eastern islands of the Aegean and until noon in the Dodecanese.

2. Snowfall will occur in continental semi-mountainous areas, thick in places in Thrace (approximate height 500-600 meters and above) until early morning.

3. South winds in some places will reach the southeast of the Aegean Sea in the morning from 8 to 9 points on the Beaufort scale.

The fire services of the above areas and the entire civil protection mechanism remain fully prepared to immediately resolve any problems.

Finally, the fire department strongly recommends that movements be limited to those absolutely necessary during the occurrence of weather events in the above areas.

For weather protection information, citizens can visit the fire department’s website and official Facebook and Twitter accounts.

Citizens can visit the EL.AS website for information and announcements about the current situation and the patency of the road network due to flood waters entering it. www.astynomia.gr.

Every day, citizens can be aware of the development of extreme weather events in regular EMR weather reports and on the EMR website at the online address www.emy.gr.

For more information and guidance on self-protection from the weather, citizens can visit the website of the General Secretariat for Civil Protection at www.civilprotection.gr.