Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Tourists tell of terror in Greece killer storms
Families feared for their lives as freak weather hit resorts
A GRANDMOTHER says she feared her family “were going to die” in the Greek storm which killed seven people, including six tourists.
Winds of over 60mph, rain and hailstorms battered the Halkidiki peninsula, tearing off roofs and uprooting trees.
There were also more than 5,000 bolts of lightning across northern Greece, the country’s meteorological service said.
Liz Travis, 52, who was in a taxi with her husband James, 51, daughter Sian Yates, 26, and grandson Finley, two, said: “We thought we were going to die. I’m not religious but I started praying.”
Liz, of Bishopstoke, near Southampton, crouched on the floor of the car, covering Finley, after the driver was forced to pull over. She added: “In minutes there were golf balls of hell coming out of the sky, hitting the car.
“The car was rocking – we thought we were going to turn over.”
Local police said two elderly Czech tourists were killed when strong winds overturned their travel trailer as the storm hit on Wednesday night.
A woman and an eightyear-old boy from Romania died when a roof collapsed on a restaurant in the resort of Nea Plagia.
And a man and a young boy, both Russians, died when a tree fell near their hotel in the seaside town of Nea Potidea, authorities said. A seventh, unidentified victim’s body was found in the sea. More than 100 people were injured. Sophie Darling, 20, from London, who was having a family holiday in Nea Plagia, said the storm damaged part of their hotel roof and left a trail of carnage.
“We walked down the street in the morning to find some roofs of houses and restaurants torn off,” she said.
“There were trees and sun beds scattered and parts of buildings. There was rubbish everywhere.
“It was really shocking to see. We still have no electricity or water.” Artist Kirstie Taylor, 50, who was staying at the five-star Ikos Oceania resort with her husband and two teenage children, said the weather
50 Miles
Athens changed terrifyingly quickly. “It started with constant lightning, like someone switching a light on and off repeatedly for about 15 minutes,” she said:
“Then the wind picked up, rattling the restaurant windows. It was followed by a torrential downpour.
“The wind whipped up the swimming pool water. Watching through the windows, it was like being in a giant goldfish bowl.”
Yesterday, streets in the region were dotted with uprooted pine trees and overturned motorcycles.
Prof Theodoros Karakostas, a climate expert at Aristotelian University, told Greek media that the storm was a rare “supercell” – the least common and most violent kind of thunderstorm.