An autopsy along Kifissos was carried out today, early in the morning, by the Minister of Climate Crisis and Civil Protection, Vasilis Kikilias, accompanied by the governor, Vassilis Papageorgiou, and engineers of the ministry.

Mr. Kikilias performed an autopsy on the river bed in order to inspect the situation in which it is, if there are carried materials in streams, as well as what preventive measures need to be taken.

Mr. Kikilias, in his statements, announced that similar autopsies will follow in Mandra but also outside Attica, while underlining that since the beginning of September he has sent urgent letters to all competent authorities, regions and municipalities, regarding the projects that need to be done . In addition, he emphasized that after three years the environmental studies were approved, so that the anti-flood works in Kifissos can proceed.

Cikilia

During the autopsy along Kifisos, several points were identified, which have been blocked by floating materials due to the rainfall that has occurred, as also garbage, rubble and even thrown furniture, with the result that there is – for the residential areas located to the right and left of Kifiss – a great risk of flooding, in the case of even a heavy rainfall.

“Today we are here with the general secretary of the Ministry of Climate Crisis and Civil Protection, specialist scientists, our engineers, in an autopsy that takes place from here to the Kifisos delta, because we want to see what state the river bed is in and what it can be done proactively”, noted Mr. Kikilias and pointed out that after three years, the environmental studies were approved so that the major flood prevention projects in Kifissos could proceed.

“I have to say at this point, neither the supervision of the projects nor the planning of the projects nor the implementation of the projects is the responsibility of my ministry. But it is my responsibility and that of my ministry to draw up those plans to deal with the floods. And unfortunately the floods do not wait, there is winter ahead, and extreme weather phenomena which we have already been dealing with for several months”, said the minister.

“We will continue to conduct autopsies in these first priority and dangerous areas, one of them is Kifissos. Mandra follows, but also outside Attica so that we can – as I explained – coordinate and draw up these plans so that we can deal with the floods. In any case, I am determined to do everything possible so that the part of prevention in which we invest – we think that prevention is very important – is done at the highest possible level”, he added.

Finally, Mr. Kikilias underlined that since the beginning of September they have sent urgent letters to all authorities, regions and municipalities regarding the works that need to be done, in all that has to do with extreme weather phenomena, the control of the works and their progress. “I have explained to you what the process is in terms of the major flood protection works of Kifissos, but the part of cleaning and prevention is another issue that we will discuss once again with the district and I believe in this part some things can be done even before the anti-flood works,” he concluded.