Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis has attributed the recent storms wreaking havoc on Greece, Turkey, and Bulgaria to climate change. He also admitted that his center-right government

did not manage the wildfires as effectively as they had hoped.

On Tuesday, September 5, 2023, fierce rainstorms battered Greece, Turkey, and Bulgaria, leading to severe flooding and claiming at least seven lives. Among the victims were two holidaymakers swept away by a torrent that surged through a campsite in northwestern Turkey.

Turkish Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya disclosed that four additional individuals were unaccounted for after the flash flood engulfed the campsite in Kirklareli province, near the Bulgarian border. At the time of the incident, approximately 12 vacationers were present at the site. Search teams have recovered two bodies, as announced on X (formerly Twitter), and efforts to locate the missing four individuals continue without interruption.

Television footage depicted rescuers saving a young girl and an adult from waters that had risen waist-high in some areas. Furthermore, the downpour inflicted damage and led to the closure of a major road, as reported by Haberturk television.

In Istanbul, Turkey's largest city, heavy rainfall resulted in street and home flooding in two neighborhoods, resulting in at least two fatalities, according to a statement from the governor's office. Around a dozen individuals were rescued after being stranded inside a library, and certain subway stations were temporarily shut down. Istanbul Governor Davut Gul encouraged motorcyclists to stay home.

In Greece, authorities imposed a traffic ban in the central town of Volos, the nearby mountainous region of Pilion, and the resort island of Skiathos as record-breaking rainfall resulted in at least one fatality. The deluge transformed streets into thigh-high torrents and swept away vehicles. The fire department reported that one individual near Volos lost their life when a wall collapsed on them. Five people were reported missing, potentially carried away by floodwaters. In several other areas of central Greece, the Sporades island chain, and Evia island, authorities issued cellphone alerts, advising people to limit their outdoor movements.

Streams burst their banks in the Pilion region, dragging cars into the sea, while rockfalls blocked roads, a small bridge was washed away, and numerous areas experienced power outages. As a precaution, authorities evacuated a retirement home in the city of Volos. Greece's meteorological service noted that a village in the Pilion region received a staggering 75.4 centimeters (almost 30 inches) of rainfall on Tuesday, marking the highest level recorded since at least 2006. This was significantly higher than the average annual rainfall of approximately 40 centimeters (15.75 inches) in the Athens region. Photo by European People's Party, Wikimedia commons.