ATHENS, March 14 (Reuters) - Soldiers and rescue teams on Tuesday prepared to evacuate dozens of villages and towns in northeastern Greece as rivers swelled, flooding homes and thousands of acres of farmland.
After weeks of heavy snow and ongoing rainfall, the Evros region bordering Bulgaria to the north and Turkey to the east is faced with the worst flooding of the past 15 years.
"We are preparing for a nightmare today and tonight," the Evros prefect said on television. "At the moment we are at the mercy of the army who have been told to be on standby to evacuate people."
Several villages along the River Evros had flooded overnight driving residents out and dozens of other villages had been ordered to get ready for evacuation in the coming hours.
Farmers were rushing to transport livestock and equipment away from the river. Some 50,000 acres of farmland was already under about a metre of water as dozens of dikes had burst.
Prefect Nikos Zambounidis said thousands of cubic metres of water, from melting snow and heavy rainfall flowed into the Ardas and Evros rivers every hour and the situation would get worse. "We are just hoping there won't be any human casualties."
The Evros river delta, which forms the border with Turkey, is among the biggest of its kind in southeastern Europe, and provides vast areas of fertile land for farmers.
Among the areas worst hit is the town of Soufli which has seen around 6,000 acres of fields of mainly grain under water.
"It started snowing again this morning and for us the next 72 hours are extremely crucial," Soufli mayor Minas Stergiou told Reuters. "We have ordered people to move animals and equipment away and not to approach the river which is 500 metres away from the town. Our only aim now is not to have any deaths."
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