THESSALONIKI, Greece (AP) - Powerful storms raged over Greece’s northern Halkidiki region Wednesday, leaving at least five people dead and 20 injured as trees and electricity pylons toppled. Power was knocked out and roads were blocked.
Police and the Fire Service said the deaths occurred late Wednesday in three separate incidents. High winds overturned a recreational vehicle in one incident and caused the collapse of a lean-to roof at an outdoor restaurant in another. Details of the third incident were not immediately available.
The region, a three-finger peninsula near the northern city of Thessaloniki, has multiple seaside resorts and is popular with tourists in the summer.
The Fire Service said that it rescued 30 people from buildings due to the bad weather and that personnel outside the affected region were on stand-by in case more rescues were needed.
Earlier, in southern Greece, eight migrants, including two children, were injured when high winds blew a tree down onto a tent at a camp for migrants and refugees in Inofyta, 60 kilometers (37 miles) from of the Greek capital. All the injured were hospitalized.
Greece has set up dozens of migrant camps across the country following 2016 agreements that limited travel of asylum seekers to other European Union countries.
The strong winds, combined with temperatures of 37 degrees Celsius (99 degrees Fahrenheit), also fanned three large wildfires in southern Greece.
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