We had quite a thunderstorm here in Potos-Ποτός last night. I had said during the day on the beach “looks like they’ve had some stormy weather on the mainland” – the sea conditions made it obvious. Late in the evening that stormy weather reached Thassos.

We first saw the lightning when we were standing in the harbour; it was off in the distance, over Limenaria-Λιμεναριά. By the time Dad and I got home it had started to rain, and while we were sitting out on the balcony the rain got heavier.

We got a very spectacular lightning show from the balcony, with forked lightning in all directions. We timed our return to the apartment well – Mum and Corrie were still out shopping, and got really rather wet.

We watched as the river (all dried up during the summer months and used as a car park) became a river once more. All the drivers got nervous and moved their cars – some earlier than others! It turned out to be a very sensible thing to do, as before too long the water flowing rather fast and a parked car could (probably) have been easily washed away.

At the peak of the storm – around midnight – there was so much lightning it was like having a police car with its lights on right outside the bedroom window. We had on average a flash of lightning every 3 seconds. When the forked lightning was visible from our apartment it really was very impressive, and lit up the whole sky. The thunder got very loud at times too.

It’s not the first thunderstorm I’ve had in Greece during this trip, but it’s the first one at night, with lightning, and Dad and I enjoyed sitting out to watch it on the balcony  – that made it much more fun – until Mum pointed out we were sitting on the top floor of the apartment block with metal railings and metal chairs.

It’s still overcast this morning, but according to the weather forecast the cloud is set to clear up within the next couple of hours, then it’ll be a sunny day.

By the way: Today is my 33rd day in Greece. I have 10 days left before I fly back to the UK.

This is only the start of the holiday for Mum, Dad and Corrie – but it’s the end of my holiday! 🙁

I’m off to the bakery in a bit, to get our breakfast/lunch supplies – fresh bread for breakfast, bread rolls for lunch.

Bye for now,

FH.

Update 13:51:
The storm has done quite a lot of damage!

It seems one driver didn’t manage to move his car. His car was found by the beach a few hours ago.

Several cafés have lost all their sunbeds, they were washed out to sea.

The police closed the main coastal road at one point during the night too.