Risk Assessment Committee

The Risk Assessment Committee convened today on the development of the “Atena” storm that has been affecting the country since yesterday.

Minister of Climate Crisis and Civil Protection Vassilis Kikilias has not ruled out the possibility of local flooding from the Atena storm which is moving east from the central Mediterranean, sweeping through part of the county from Monday night until Wednesday. 

Civil Protection is on high alert and has developed an immediate response plan in anticipation of the severe weather that will affect the country until Saturday.

The European Commission has announced the start of production for 12 new Canadair DHC 515 firefighting aircraft, which will form the permanent European forest firefighting fleet (rescEU). These aircraft will be permanently stationed in Greece, Croatia, France, Italy, Portugal, and Spain.

 After a long period, the very high temperatures are subsiding and we are back to slightly above normal for the season, says the director of the National Weather Service, Thodoros Kolydas.

The Scientific Risk Assessment Committee met at noon on Thursday (22/8) due to the severe weather conditions that will prevail in the coming days and is currently being chaired by the Minister of Climate Crisis and Civil Protection Vassilis Kikilias, inter-ministerial – coordination meeting with the participation of representatives of local authorities and all Civil Protection agencies.

Speaking about an extremely dangerous fire that “we are fighting under dramatic conditions,” the Minister of Climate Crisis and Civil Protection, Vassilis Kikilias, provided an update on the fire in northeastern Attica shortly after 11 AM.

The “wave” of bad weather affecting our country since yesterday is worsening today, with the main features being rain, thunderstorms and high lightning activity. The phenomena are expected to weaken late Thursday evening.

The change in weather brought yesterday by unstable air masses from the northwestern Balkans with heavy rains and thunderstorms accompanied by a high frequency of lightning and local hailstorms, led the Civil Protection to issue on Wednesday afternoon a 112 warning message for severe weather in the areas of Thessaloniki, Pieria, Halkidiki and Kavala.

The Ministry of Climate Crisis and Civil Protection has alerted the public to the impending deterioration of the weather, which is predicted to result in severe storms and extensive lightning activity in several parts of the country.