17 November 2017•Update: 17 November 2017
By Magda Panoutsopoulou
ATHENS
Evgenia Tolia, 61, sits outside her destroyed shop in Mandra, Athens with her trousers pulled up and her muddied boots stepping on the debris of what was once her mini market.
You can see several small items floating in the water, while a refrigerator full of dairy products is thrown against the wall which separated her shop from her neighbor’s house.
That too is ruined. No fence, no walls, only pieces of wood, metal and concrete scattered around.
Tolia could not hold back her tears, she just whispered that she has nothing left: “What am I going to do now, my child? I don’t have any other income.”
The scene resembles a battlefield. Almost nothing is standing. Even stray animals that managed to survive the raging waters are scrambling though the debris to find food.
She is just one of hundreds of people affected by this week’s deadly flooding to have hit the Greek capital.
Greek authorities on Thursday confirmed the death toll had risen to 16.
Six people are still reported missing according to the fire service.
Of the 16 dead, 10 are men and five women. There is no confirmation on the identity of a sixteenth person found early on Thursday.
Devastation
Next door, Petros was not willing to speak much -- he was angry and frustrated from what he went though. “Losing your house is not an easy thing,” he shouted.
The front part of his home was completely destroyed. You could see inside that the water had swept away his furniture. Everything was a mass.
The floods are one of the worst disasters to have hit the areas of Nea Peramos, Megara and Mandra, turning roads into fast-flowing rivers, trapping passengers in their vehicles and residents in their homes.
“Local authorities in the area obviously bear a great share of responsibility, as well as those who planned, approved and implemented infrastructure works in the area,” Interior Minister Panos Skourletis said on Friday in an interview with a local radio station.
He noted that crews were already recording the damage so that the compensation process might begin in the next few days.
Skourletis also called for an in-depth investigation into the causes of the disastrous flooding.
Parliament President Nikos Voutsis also announced on Friday that the Greek parliament will offer at least €1 million ($1.1 million) to aid flood victims.
Earlier, parliament observed a minute's silence for those killed in the destructive floods.
On Thursday, Greece’s third-largest bank, Eurobank, announced it would suspend all collection procedures related to outstanding loans by private, professional and business entities based in or working at the areas affected.
