Waiting for the Storm

On 13 November 2017 Symi was hit by Storm Eurydice and life has never been the same on the island since. Don't get me wrong. We have had flash floods before. A friend of mine drowned in one. But never has the island seen such massive and enduring destruction, not since the bombing raids of World War 2.

Three months later we are still looking at massive erosion, huge piles of rubble and tons of rock, particularly in the rural areas and, too, up in some neighbourhoods of the oldest parts of Chorio, the historic upper village where the torrents washed away ancient stone stairways and squares, leaving some houses inaccessible.

The municipality was quick to tidy up the town square and the area by the bridge, mainly because this is the only access road around the harbour and it was mostly a case of bulldozing away rubble rather than reconstruction. It didn't look good to have all those wrecked cars smashed up against the bridge either.

The other zones, however, require money as well as manpower and, we have now discovered, planning permission. Those who went ahead with rebuilding their tumbled walls and clearing their access roads are now being told they will have to pay fines because they did not apply for building permits first. A low blow.

And so, it is with some trepidation that we look at a weather forecast that tells us that we can expect 43 mm of rain today and listen to announcements over the public address system, warning us to remove our vehicles from the water courses (many of the roads on the island are in fact old river beds).