FLOODS IN NORTHERN GREECE - KOMOTINI

Record ID: 1095717

  • Title: FLOODS IN NORTHERN GREECE - KOMOTINI
  • Date: 13th January 1960
  • Summary: Boukloutza River. Pan shot over water. Same river in town of Komotini, workers in foreground. Rescue workers. Mud being dug away. Army trucks with homeless people's belongings. Men clearing out basement. Shopkeeper takes stock of what is left. Women rescuing their belongings from the mud. Boy washing his "finds". Truck with family moving out of stricken area. Initials KJ/V RUSHED TO YOU UNCUT TO CATCH EARLY FLIGHTS Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
  • Embargoed: 27th January 1960 12:00
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  • Location: Komotini, N.Greece
  • Country: Greece
  • Reuters ID: LVAE2ULEWGPB710A1YINBLU2FO94
  • Story Text:Floods have left 3,000 people homeless at Komotini, capital of the Greek province of Western Thrace near the Bulgarian frontier, where the Boukloutza River overflowed after continuous torrential rain turning the town and neighbouring villages into a lake.

    Some 200 houses collapsed, scores of others were badly damaged. Three persons lost their lives, four were injured and at least two are reported missing.

    Two Cabinet Ministers arrived in Komotini to coordinate emergency rescue work, while the rain continued to threaten other Thracian cities. All troops in Northern Greece have been alerted.

    Receding waters are leaving mud up to 3 ft deep in the streets of this worst-hit town and the surrounding countryside is still under water and isolated. As food stocks are running short. Government help and supplies are beginning to arrive.

    Reports from Athens say the Komotini flood disaster may have been due to a decision by the Bulgarian authorities to open the dam on the Boukloutza River to prevent flooding in a number of frontier villages. The released waters are believed to have then rushed into the Thracian valleys of Greece.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS - SOURCE TO BE VERIFIED
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2014. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
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