Athena-Sana
The most powerful snowfall in Greece in 12 years has caused the death of two people and cut off electricity to large parts of Athens and its suburbs, in addition to major paralysis in transport modes and movement disturbances in some neighborhoods in the center of the capital, where the possibility of movement was limited to vehicles equipped with metal chains.
Hedno, the operator of the Greek state power grid, said that the snowstorm cut hundreds of trees that fell on power lines and damaged at least 85 medium-voltage lines, as the blackout led to the death of two hospital patients after the ventilators broke down.
And AFP reported that a thick layer of snow covered the roads in the northern Athens suburb, as there were not enough snowbreakers to restore traffic.
The main road linking the capital with Thessaloniki, the second largest Greek city in the north of the country, has been closed to traffic since Monday, to avoid congestion, while strong winds forced ships linking Athens to the Aegean islands to remain at their berths, as wind speeds exceeded 100 kilometers per hour.
Temperatures reached 19 degrees below zero in Florina, northwest of the country.
A cold air front sweeps Greece starting last Saturday, causing a rare wave of snowfall in Athens after a period of unprecedented warm weather.
