In early September 2023, Greece endured a four-day storm that dropped 910 millimeters (3 feet) of rain on central parts of the country.
In early September 2023, Greece endured a four-day storm that dropped 910 millimeters (3 feet) of rain on central parts of the country. The record rainfall triggered deadly flooding and inundated towns and farm fields in Thessaly, a region that includes Greece’s agricultural heartland.
The flooding was fueled by a stalled low-pressure storm that became cut-off from the jet stream, also known as a cut-off low, which dropped heavy rainfall on central Greece between September 4 and 7. The storm dropped the most rain, 910 millimeters (3 feet), on Zagora, near Thessaly’s port town of Volos, according to Meteo, the country’s weather service. About 100 kilometers (60 miles) inland, the town of Karditsa saw 659 millimeters (2 feet) of rainfall.
The pair of images above shows flooding near Karditsa and Larissa, some of the hardest hit places in Thessaly. The image on the right, acquired by the Operational Land Imager (OLI) on Landsat 8, shows flooding near the Pineios River on September 8, a day after the storm receded. The image on the left, acquired by the Operational Land Imager-2 (OLI-2) on Landsat 9, shows the same area on August 31.
Read more at: NASA Earth Observatory
Photo Credit: NASA Earth Observatory
