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Chaos instead of holiday idyll in the fishing village of Agia Pelagia on Crete
Photo: COSTAS METAXAKIS / AFP
A man died in severe flooding on the popular Greek holiday island of Crete.
According to the fire department, a 50-year-old near the city of Heraklion in the north of the island was swept away in his car by the water masses and could not save himself.
A woman is still missing, the state broadcaster ERT reported.
Local media also reported extensive damage in coastal villages, where roads became raging rivers.
At least 20 charter flights had to be diverted because the runway at Heraklion airport was flooded, it was said.
The planes were sent to Athens and the western Cretan city of Chania.
The situation was "out of control," said the mayor of the coastal community of Sitia to the TV station Skai.
He described such storms in the region as "extraordinary".
An abrupt change in weather from Friday to Saturday surprised people in parts of Greece.
According to the meteorologists, the storm is now moving further east.
For the archipelago of the Dodecanese (including Rhodes, Kasos and Karpathos), the authorities issued a severe weather warning to the citizens via SMS.
sak/dpa/AFP