In September, the Greek region of Thessaly suffered a severe storm resulting in extreme flooding, which took the lives of seventeen people.
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00:00 In early September, a severe storm wave named Daniel hit Thessaly in central Greece, claiming
00:07 the lives of 17 people.
00:10 In Vlohos, most residents left their homes due to the significant damages, but Yiannis
00:15 Koukas is not one of them.
00:17 Almost every day he cleans, tidies up and hopes that in a few months he will be able
00:22 to return with his wife and children.
00:24 "We try to make the most of the weather, to clean our homes, our warehouses, whatever
00:31 we have, so that things can dry a little bit, so that at some point, after the summer, those
00:40 who can, can go back to their homes."
00:43 Unfortunately for the children of Vlohos, their primary school has suffered irreparable
00:48 damage.
00:49 But beyond houses, the September floods caused serious problems to the region's economy,
00:55 mostly to farmers and breeders.
00:56 Thousands of acres were flooded and hundreds of animals drowned.
01:01 Vasilis and Dimitra are livestock breeders who still haven't managed to recover from
01:06 September.
01:07 "There are no animals left, we lost 80 animals.
01:12 The farms that we had stored, they were all destroyed.
01:15 I'm not talking about the ones that were at home, the farms are not producing anything
01:22 and we are saying 'go' and we are managing to fight it."
01:27 The flood victims have many complaints for their government, which they believe has not
01:32 done enough.
01:33 But one association says they are grateful to the thousands of citizens from Greece and
01:37 abroad who rushed to help them.
01:40 "We thank the volunteers who touched us with their interest.
01:46 They sent us a thousand things, which we are distributing to families.
01:51 And they come and take, and everyone gets the same."
01:56 Some years ago, the residents of the area may not have known exactly what a climate change
02:05 or a climate crisis means.
02:07 Now, having experienced pain and loss, they ask the state for substantial support to
02:13 revive their land.
02:15 They are even asking for anti-flooding projects so that in the next great disaster they won't
02:20 be left with dead and lost property.
02:23 From Vlachos Karditsas for Euronews, Apostolos Thaikos.
02:27 (whooshing)