Violent storms struck a tourist region in Greece, killing at least seven people, including an 8-year-old boy and a toddler.
More than 130 people were injured after ferocious rain, gale-force winds, and wild storms struck the Halkidiki peninsula in northern Greece.
Strong winds swept through a restaurant in the region, which is packed with tourists during summer.
Tourists were trapped in their hotels, cars were overturned and buildings were damaged.
A 39-year-old man and a 2-year-old boy from Russia passed away after a tree fell on their car, the Greek Reporter noted.
One woman and an 8-year-old boy from Romania passed away after a roof collapsed on a restaurant.
Two elderly people from the Czech Republic were also killed when winds swept their trailer away, according to police.
The death toll increased to seven after another body was found at sea off the coast of the region. The body of the 62-year-old was found by an air force helicopter and was later identified by family members, said the coast guard.
The director of the Nea Moudania Medical Center, Athansios Kaltsas, said: “It is the first time in my 25-year career that I have lived through something like this. It was so abrupt, and so sudden.”
Patients taken to the hospital ranged in age between 8 months to over 70-years-old. Some suffered injuries from falling objects and trees.
Such weather is unusual in Greece, where summer months are usually dry and hot.
Meteorologist Klearxos Marousakis described the severe weather as ‘extremely unusual’ for this time of the year.
Photographer Constantine Emmanouilidi said the storms were the ‘scariest thing’ he has ever seen. “I have been chasing storms since many years but what I witnessed tonight is the scariest thing in my life,” he wrote on Facebook.
“We had a severe storm in Halkidiki Greece and the night turned into day from the lightning. I just cannot believe in my eyes and need some time to take in the experience.”
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