UPDATED - CHANGED HEADLINE, DECK, MORE DETAILS
By Ahmet Gencturk
ATHENS (AA) – The death toll from the devastating floods that hit the Greek central Thessaly region hard on Tuesday climbed to 15 amid growing anger against the government, local media reported on Sunday.
Bodies of four more people were found today in the Karditsa area by the search and rescue teams, while another two people, reportedly a couple from Austria, are still missing, the public broadcaster ERT reported.
Meanwhile, the water level in the Pinios River remains well above the alarm level and hence threatens the city of Larissa, one of the biggest in the region, and adjacent settlements, it added.
It underlined that the floods caused severe destruction in the region and destroyed agricultural production, as well as a large number of houses, businesses, and infrastructure.
The situation is worrying especially in the city of Volos with a 200,000 population where the water supply network was badly damaged, and its residents remain without access to running water.
In a related development, Deputy Health Minister Irini Agapidaki warned the residents of the flood-stricken settlements to drink only bottled water.
She also stressed that pets and farm animals should be isolated in areas where animals have died, and residents should notify local authorities to remove the carcasses.
- Anger against government
A protest was held against Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis in the city of Larissa, where he came this afternoon to assure the citizens that their losses will be compensated, local news outlet onlarissa.gr reported.
About 150 people were at the scene with some of them throwing stones at the police, who responded with tear gas shelling, it added.
The main opposition party SYRIZA said in a statement: “Without any apology and without a trace of self-criticism for his enormous responsibilities and after drowning the protesting citizens in Larissa with chemicals and flash grenades, Mr. Mitsotakis appeared today as a simple observer of the biblical disaster in Thessaly.”
Also visiting the region, the leader of the social-democratic opposition PASOK party, Nikos Androulakis, remarked that the responsibilities of the government and regional authorities are very high.
"They did not manage to defend Thessaly from these extreme phenomena. The quality of antiflood works carried out must be inspected. Also, they must account for the works that were not carried out these past few years," he said.