“An extreme phenomenon is the unprecedented height of rainfall in the wider area of ​​eastern Thessaly”, says the professor of Dynamic Tectonics of Applied Geology and Natural Disaster Management and president of OASP, Efthymis Lekkas.

As he points out, especially in Pelion, more than 500mm of rain was recorded in a limited period of time with extremely high speed.

“The amount of rainfall, although unprecedented, is completely justified based on the new data of the climate crisis on the one hand, and on the other hand due to the proximity to the sea and the transverse longitudinal arrangement of Pelion towards the front of the movement of the system“, he notes and adds that “despite the fact that the risk was extremely high and extreme, nevertheless the first picture of the effects on the infrastructure in the region of Pelion is positive”.

Mr. Lekkas emphasizes that “the infrastructures in the mountainous mass of Pelion are particularly resistant to corresponding weather phenomena, given that after the rains of 2017 and the disasters that were caused, a systematic effort was made by the Region of Thessaly to build the infrastructures based on new data, which contributed to the increased durability of the projects”.

At the same time, he underlines that “an extremely undetermined factor in the flood risk, however, remains the percentage of sedimentation, i.e. the amount of transported materials carried away by rain and rushing waters, which in Pelion and more widely is important, due to the fragile character of the geological formations and especially the shale formations found in the area”.

“Finally, it should be noted that there have been many cases of non-compliance with the instructions through 112, a fact which is mainly attributed to ignorance or a reduced perception of risk”, concludes Mr. Lekkas.