Greece flash floods leave at least three dead Published duration 7 September 2016

image copyright Getty Images image caption The floods destroyed homes and businesses and covered cars with mud and debris

Three people have been found dead and a woman is missing after torrential rain caused flash flooding in Greece.

The worst casualties were in and around the south-western city of Kalamata, where a disabled woman aged 63 and a man of 80 died in their basement homes. A 90 year-old was also found dead.

Another woman was missing after abandoning her car in floods in northern Greece.

The floods destroyed homes and businesses and swept cars out to sea.

Emergency services rescued a Romanian woman and her two children at Igoumenitsa on the north-west coast.

image copyright Getty Images image caption Cars were washed out to sea in Thessaloniki, the second-largest city in Greece

The flooding hit towns and cities from Thessaloniki in the north-east to Sparta in the south.

Pictures shared on social media showed vehicles stacked on top of each other in narrow streets in Kalamata, the second most populous city in the southern Peloponnese region.

Kalamata Mayor Panagiotis Nikas told Reuters news agency that he had "never seen anything like it".

"About 140mm of rain fell in an hour this morning. Can you imagine that?" he said.

The flooding was so severe that cars were washed out to sea on the outskirts of the northern Greek city of Thessaloniki.

South of the city, at Mihaniona, rescue workers were searching for a woman in her fifties whose car was found abandoned after her husband said she had become trapped by rising waters.

image copyright Getty Images image caption Mud and debris clogged up roads in a suburb of Thessaloniki following flash floods

In October 2015 flash flooding in Athens swept away cars and motorbikes and caused a building to collapse.

Related Topics Greece

Severe weather