The fall of a historic bridge
At the end of February 2019, two days of torrential rain hit Western Crete, following on a previous storm which had lasted for five days a week earlier, with some areas in the Nomos of Chania recording rainfall of over 1 metre in the month. The Municipality of Platanias was particularly hard hit, suffering extensive damage to its infrastructure. Rainstorms in the Lefka Ori mountains caused unprecedented volumes of water to come down the rivers, which burst their banks, creating extensive flooding, undermining roads and destroying bridges. The extent of the damage was blamed partly on lack of maintenance of the rivers, which had poorly defined courses and were blocked with vegetation and in some places illegal building. Fortunately only one person lost their life throughout the Nomos of Chania.