Chalkidiki

The coastal town of Posidi, on the Kassandra peninsula of Halkidiki in northern Greece, is seen in an aerial photo taken on Saturday. The tourism season peaked last week with thousands of Greeks taking advantage of the August 15 national holiday.

A 37-year-old Serbian woman and her 4-year-old daughter remained in hospital in Thessaloniki, northern Greece, Monday after sustaining light injuries on Sunday when the speedboat they had been traveling in was engulfed in flames after its engine exploded.

Cars sit idle in traffic on the highway connecting Thessaloniki with Halkidiki, a popular holiday destination, in northern Greece, on Saturday. The weekend saw the first big wave of holidaymakers departing from the country's cities. Mid-August is traditionally the peak of the Greek summer holiday season. [InTime News]

Local authority officials in the parts of Halkidiki that were struck by last Wednesday's violent storm said on the weekend that conditions had virtually returned to normal following problems with the electricity and water supply.  

Just two days after freak storms led to seven deaths in Halkidiki, northern Greece, a fire was reported to have broken out on agricultural land between the settlements of Nikiti and Neos Marmaras.

A firefighting contingent of 20 men and 10 engines was dispatched to tackle the blaze which broke out on a farm covering around a hectare of land. 

After seven people were killed and more than 100 injured following a short and vehement storm that struck the area of Halkidiki in northern Greece on Wednesday night, there was concern that the European emergency number 112, which could have contributed to timely evacuations, is not working.

Efforts continued on Friday to restore power to all parts of Halkidiki as state officials continued their assessments of a freak storm that killed seven people and injured scores more.  

At least seven people, including six tourists, were killed and more than 100 others injured when a violent, short-lived storm lashed northern Greece overnight, felling trees and ripping off rooftops.

Witnesses said the storm had come and gone in a matter of minutes. Winds of over 100 kph (60 mph) were reported on the Halkidiki peninsula, popular with tourists in the summer.

North Macedonia Foreign Minister Nikola Dimitrov has expressed his sympathy for the victims of a violent overnight storm in northern Greece in which at least seven people were killed and more than 100 injured.

In northern Greece, was declared a red code for very dangerous rainfalls in the regions of Central and Eastern Macedonia for the next 24 hours. The regions include the Halkidiki peninsula, the island of Thassos and the region of Kavala, where many Bulgarian citizens are staying.

The warning is about very dangerous rainfall and strong thunderstorms.