Officials reported on Wednesday, September 6, that storms have resulted in the deaths of a minimum of 14 individuals across Greece, Turkey, and Bulgaria. In a single day, a Greek region received more rainfall than it typically experiences in an entire year.

Storms have killed at least 14 people in Greece, Turkey and Bulgaria, with a Greek region hit by more rain in 24 hours than it normally sees in a year, officials said Wednesday.

A period of extreme heat has given way to heavy storms, turning streets in northwestern Turkey into rivers and hitting Greece with unprecedented downpours as it recovers from weeks of wildfires.

As the world warms, the atmosphere contains more water vapor which increases the risk of heavy precipitation in some parts of the world, notably in Asia, Western Europe and Latin America.

Combined with other factors such as urbanization and land-use planning, these more intense rainfall events contribute to flooding.

Dimitris Ziakopoulos called it an “unprecedented phenomenon” for the country’s meteorological data, which dates back to 1955.

An 87-year-old woman missing since Tuesday was found dead on Wednesday in the village of Paltsi in Magnesia, fire department spokesman Yannis Artopios told public broadcaster Ert.

Another person was found dead Wednesday in the city of Karditsa in central Greece.

On Tuesday, a 51-year-old man was found dead near Volos after being swept away by a rising torrent.

Electricity has been out in Volos since Tuesday morning, while buildings and roads in nearby villages have been severely damaged by landslides and flooding, according to a journalist at the scene.

The torrential rains in Greece follow weeks of devastating wildfires.

A massive blaze raging over the last two weeks destroyed swathes of the Dadia national park in the northern Evros region, which officials say is now under control.

Turkish emergency services said five people have died and one was missing in floods that hit the northwestern city of Kirklareli.

Bulgaria’s Black Sea coast has also been hit by the heaviest rains in years, killing at least four and leaving several thousand tourists stranded.

Heavy rain and thunderstorms since late Monday caused rivers to overflow, damaging bridges and cutting off access in the region south of the coastal city of Burgas.

Flooding, rare in the Black Sea coast area, is becoming increasingly common in Bulgaria with the impact of climate change and the poor maintenance of infrastructure.

Khalil Wakim, with AFP