On September 19-22 2020, Mediterranean hurricane -in short Medicane–Ianos made landfall in Greece with winds exceeding 120 miles per hour and precipitation that reached up to 300 mm. The amount of precipitation during this event significantly exceeded, in certain locations, the mean annual precipitation. As a consequence, unprecedented flooding occurred causing significant damage to urban communities, while numerous landslides as well as debris flows occurred in steeper topographies, often impacting rural communities. Several bridges collapsed and river scouring was found to be extensive. Railroads as well as road networks are severely affected.
On the basis of this information, the Geotechnical Extreme Events Reconnaissance (GEER) Association decided to deploy a Phase 1 team, which consists of Universities (National Technical University of Athens, Democritus University of Thrace, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki), Government Agencies (National Observatory of Athens) as well as local Consulting Firms (ARGO-E GROUP, GRID Engineers). The team leader is Prof. Dimitrios Zekkos from the University of California at Berkeley. ARGO-E GROUP is co-leading this collaborative multi-institutional team, with the following members of our group actively participating in this effort:
- George Zalachoris – Civil/Geotechnical Engineer
- John Manousakis – Surveying & Geomatics Engineer
- Alexandros Tsavalas-Hardy – Informatics Analyst
- Dimitris Panousis – Geosciences Intern
The team on the ground is supported by remote sensing groups from NASA, the University California at Berkeley and the University of Michigan. The field teams are presently on the ground collecting significant perishable data and will generate a Phase 1 report with all the findings. Stay tuned for more information…
