[ad_1]
-
Two men are trying to secure boats due to bad weather at the port of Rafina, east of Athens on Thursday 27 September 2018. Severe weather alerts remain in force in Greece, stopping ferry services and causing the closure of schools. (AP Photo / Thanassis Stavrakis)
-
On Thursday, September 27, 2018, a ferry remains moored due to bad weather at the port of Rafina, east of Athens. Severe weather warnings remain in force in Greece, stopping ferry services and shutting down schools. (AP Photo / Thanassis Stavrakis)
Athens, Greece – The Greek civil protection services were put on alert on Thursday as the country was preparing for the threat of a cyclone, which forest fires caused evacuations on an island and that an earthquake hit the south of the country.
Force winds of the order of 100 kilometers to the hour (62 mph) have hit Greece from the west and meteorologists have warned of the possibility of a cyclone in the Ionian Sea.
The strong winds forced the ferries to stay Thursday in the port, thus cutting the connection of the Greek islands to the mainland. High winds toppled trees on power lines in the northern suburbs of Athens, with firefighters reporting more than 500 calls to clear debris.
The authorities of the Municipality of Saronic, near Athens, on the Ionian island of Zakynthos and in the Aegean islands, Tinos, Andros and Mykonos, ordered the closure of schools. The schools of Greater Athens will also be closed on Friday.
On the island of Kefallonia, in the west of the country, several villages have been evacuated by the strong winds. Emergency services on the island were on high alert as weather conditions worsened.
Meteorologists have warned of the high probability that a Mediterranean cyclone known as "drugs" – which combines the words "Mediterranean" and "hurricane" – could form Friday in the Ionian Sea to the southwest from the Greek mainland.
Severe weather warnings were issued until Sunday, with the storm gradually shifting to the east.
The Institute of Geodynamics, meanwhile, said that an earthquake of a preliminary magnitude of 5.0 struck the west coast of southern Greece.
No damage or injury was immediately reported.
The Thursday earthquake had an epicenter under the seabed, 34 kilometers southwest of the city of Pylos, 245 kilometers southwest of Athens. The Euro-Mediterranean Seismological Center gave a preliminary magnitude of 5.2.
Greece is in a highly seismic region and earthquakes are frequent. The vast majority of them are small and those who cause serious damage or loss of life are rare.
__
Follow Becatoros on http://www.twitter.com/ElenaBec and Gatopoulos on http://www.twitter.com/dgatopoulos
[ad_2]Source link
