Forestry officials, elected municipal officers and engineers from the private sector share responsibility for the deadly floods that hit west of Athens in November 2017, according to a report published Monday.
Twenty-four people died in the floods that swept through Mandra and devastated the town after torrential rain.
Public Administration Inspector General Maria Papaspyrou said in an 82-page report that the authorities ought to have accelerated anti-flooding projects, given the history and frequency of the phenomenon in the area.
She proposed that all responsible parties be prosecuted.
In her report, Papaspyrou identified some of those responsible:
– The forestry department of the town of Egaleo which delayed for three years the decision of what was forestland or not, thus delaying in turn the beginning of needed flood-protection works.
– The city planners of the town of Elefsina who did not follow through with the timely registration of illegal structures along the main stream-bed, allowing instead permits for building inside it. There are over 39 illegal structures lying in the bed, including storehouses, homes, gas stations, depots, and soccer fields, she said.
– The Mandra municipality which allowed the building of a depot and a municipal playing field inside the stream-bed.
– Private-sector engineers who assumed and completed the construction of illegal structures within the stream-bed.
(Source: AMNA)