Storm Daniel: Britons stranded as deadly rainstorms batter Greece and Turkey
A Briton trapped in his holiday apartment on a Greek island during a 14-hour lightning storm as Storm Daniel brought torrential rain and turned the resort into a “warzone”.
Eight people have died a amid huge downpours and surging floods across southeast Europe – including two holidaymakers who were swept away by a torrent that raged through a campsite.
On Skiathos, hundreds of tourists are stranded at the airport – and footage posted on social media showed water pouring through the streets.
Colin Barratt, speaking to Sky News from the village of Troulos on the island, said the last 48 hours have been intense as he and his fiancee were stuck in their-top floor apartment as rivers of rain poured past either side of the building.
A “scared” British family on the Greek island have been told they cannot leave their hotel after the resort was hit by torrential rain.
Emma Taylor told Sky News the situation was “literally off the scale” – and “it’s just been biblical”.
“We’ve been to many places in the world and we’ve never experienced a storm like this,” she said.
Authorities have banned traffic on the island, as well as on the mainland in the city of Volos and the nearby mountain region of Pilion.
Pictures from Volos show where a road has collapsed and fallen away as rain lashed the city.
The record rainfall in Greece has caused at least one death and others are missing.
In Turkey, hundreds of homes and workplaces in several neighbourhoods in Istanbul were inundated during Tuesday’s storms.
The surging floodwaters affected more than 1,750 homes and businesses in the city, according to the Istanbul governor’s office.
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Meanwhile, at a campsite near the Turkish border with Bulgaria, bungalow homes were carried away by the water.
At least five people have died in Turkey – three at the campsite and two in Istanbul – authorities said. Rescuers were still searching for three people reported missing at the campsite.
In Bulgaria, a storm caused floods on the country’s southern Black Sea coast, leaving two people dead. Three others were missing.
TV footage showed cars and camper vans being swept out to sea in the southern resort town of Tsarevo.
Authorities declared a state of emergency in the town and urged people to move upstairs as water swamped the ground floors of some hotels.