ATHENS, Greece (AP) – A heavy blizzard covered the Acropolis and other ancient monuments in Athens and interrupted COVID-19 vaccinations in the Greek capital on Tuesday, as many services across the country were shut down.
Snow, an unusual sight in the city of more than 3 million people, has also disrupted most public transport services, while felled trees have caused blackouts in several mountain suburbs.
Stretches of Greece’s main highway were also closed, most ferry services to the islands were canceled and flights from regional airports to Athens were interrupted.
Fire Department spokesman Vassilis Vathrakoyiannis said the service had received more than 600 requests for assistance in Greater Athens.
“The calls mainly concerned the felling of trees and the transportation of people trapped in their vehicles to a safe place, but also the transportation of patients on kidney dialysis to receive treatment,” he told state TV.
“Vaccinations have been postponed, but we have helped to transport doctors and medical staff to where they are needed and we have helped energy technicians reach damaged electricity poles in hard to reach areas,” he said.
Power and water outages have also been reported in central Greece, and Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis was meeting with emergency response leaders to assist residents in darkened areas and snow-isolated villages.
Snow is common in the mountains of Greece and in the north of the country, but much rarer in the capital, especially heavy snow. On the balconies and on the streets, some Athenians emerged cautiously outside, taking pictures.
The snow came when Athens and several other parts of Greece remain blocked due to a recent increase in coronavirus infections. The blockade closed schools, most stores, and kept residents indoors during the night curfew.
Some children skipped online classes on Tuesday to play in the snow.
Outside the parliament, in the center of the city, orange snowplows cleaned the streets of ice and snow, while the presidential guards, dressed in traditional pleated kilts and shoes with pom-poms, received heavy wool overcoats to face the cold.
The cold wave, which has already caused snowstorms in much of Europe, kept temperatures around freezing in Athens on Tuesday, but is expected to rise sharply with highs of 14 degrees Celsius (57 degrees Fahrenheit) expected for Thursday. market. ___ Follow Becatoros at https://twitter.com/ElenaBec and Gatopoulos at https://twitter.com/dgatopoulos ___ Thanassis Stavrakis, Petros Giannakouris and Srdjan Nedeljkovic in Athens contributed.