Storm Bora brings days of flooding to Greece, with more rain ahead

A lumbering low pressure system over the central Mediterranean Sea has been dousing Greece in waves of torrential rainfall over recent days, a weather...

A lumbering low-pressure system over the central Mediterranean Sea has been dousing Greece in waves of torrential rainfall over recent days, a weather pattern reminiscent of one that wrought severe flooding in Spain in October.

Vehicles were swept away on streets that turned to rivers on the island of Rhodes as December got underway. The day before, the island of Lemnos in northern Greece was struck in a similar fashion. Other spots have been cut off by washed-out roads and landslides.

Both islands are under states of emergency due to widespread damage, numerous water rescues and with local reports of deaths and injuries.

A trapped area of cold air and spin overhead, cut off from the jet stream flow and feeding off the warm Mediterranean Sea, is the primary culprit for the downpours. Added atmospheric moisture from human-caused climate change and other factors are also to blame.

The storm - named Bora in Greece, where the word means wind - will continue to plague parts of the area into midweek, with additional rain likely right on its heels. A potentially volatile pattern will persist into next week in the region and additional portions of the continent.