Zagora, Greece received 30 inches of rain in one day

Torrential rains following weeks of heat waves and fires unleashed widespread flooding in Central Greece in early September 2023. Over the course of the four-day storm that began on September 4, floodwater submerged homes, turned streets into raging rivers, and swept cars out to sea.

Record-setting torrential rains in the Balkans have caused catastrophic flooding and resulted in the deaths of at least 11 people across Greece, Turkey, and Bulgaria.

The storm has taken the brunt in Greece, with some areas experiencing more than 2 feet of rain in just hours in what could become the worst rain event in Greece's history.

The storm caused significant rainfall in Central Greece, particularly impacting the Thessaly region on September 5. Zagora, a village near Mount Pelion, just northeast of Volos, received the highest levels of rainfall, recording 754 millimeters (30 inches). To put this in perspective, the capital city of Athens typically receives around 400 millimeters (16 inches) of rainfall in a year. The Krafsidonas River, which originates in Mount Pelion, overflowed in Volos and washed away a bridge in its path.

Central Greece historic flooding

According to reports, the rushing water crushed a wall, killing a farmer who was trying to reach his animals in the area of Ano Volos.

The authorities are also actively searching for a man who attempted to cross a road in his car in Agia Aikaterini Volos but the raging floodwaters swept him away. Reports have stated that the unidentified man opened his car door and got swept away by the flood. His son, who was also in the vehicle at the time, remained unharmed, as per the report.

Satellite data shows Greek rainfall

The map above shows satellite-based estimates of rainfall rates (measured in millimeters per hour) over Greece for September 6 as heavy rain persisted. The darkest red areas indicate the highest rainfall rates, which once again impacted Central Greece and southern regions, including Athens.

These data are estimates obtained through remote sensing from the Integrated Multi-Satellite Retrievals for GPM (IMERG), a product of the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) satellite mission. It's important to note that local rainfall rates may be considerably higher when measured on the ground due to the averaging of satellite data.

Using satellite data from the European Space Agency's Sentinel-1 satellite, Meteo reported extensive flooding in large parts of Thessaly as of September 6. On that day, the city of Karditsa, located about 100 kilometers (60 miles) inland from Volos, received 331 millimeters (13 inches) of rain. Athens, on the other hand, received 55 millimeters (2 inches) of rainfall, according to Meteo.

The same low-pressure system caused fatal flooding in eastern Bulgaria and western Turkey on September 5 but began to ease by the following day. In Greece, the storm gradually subsided by the evening of September 7.

Although some of Meteo's meteorological stations stopped transmitting due to power outages, they recorded the highest cumulative rainfall in the Thessaly region over the four-day storm. Zagora experienced 910 millimeters (36 inches) of rainfall, while Karditsa received 659 millimeters (26 inches).

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