Death toll from Storm Daniel in Greece rises to 10: Minister

ATHENS

The death toll from Storm Daniel in Greece has reached 10, with at least four individuals still reported as missing, according to the country's civil protection and climate crisis minister on Friday.

"In total, 10 of our fellow citizens have unfortunately lost their lives and there are also four missing people in the Volos and Pelion area," Vassilis Kikilias said at a news conference.

He pointed out that the city of Larissa, another significant settlement in the region, is on high alert due to the potential risk of the Pinios River, which flows through the city, overflowing.

Meanwhile, according to the state-run AMNA news agency, both the city center and suburbs of Volos in the Thessaly region have been without water supply for the fourth consecutive day, following the destruction of infrastructure, water pumping facilities, and water pipe networks.

During a visit to the affected area, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis toured it by helicopter and pledged that the government would provide generous and comprehensive support to those impacted by the storm.

Meanwhile, speaking to broadcaster MEGATV, Efthymios Lekkas, a prominent disaster management expert at the University of Athens, argued that up to 23% of the country’s agricultural production was destroyed by the floods caused by the storm that severely battered the Thessaly region.

Furthermore, the floods deposited clay and silt on fertile soil, which could take at least five years to recover and regain productivity, he warned.

Addressing the impact of the floods on agricultural production, Panagiotis Petrakis, a senior economics expert from the University of Athens, estimated that the direct cost of the disaster could reach up to €1.15 billion ($1.23 billion).

Petrakis warned that the loss of agricultural production will lead to a significant increase in food prices, which are already elevated, and consequently, inflation is likely to soar.

The EU’s Copernicus Emergency Management System said that nearly 73,000 hectares of land were flooded in Thessaly.