Residents save woman in Greek floods
Large parts of Athens were flooded today in one of the heaviest torrential downpours the city has seen in decades.
A woman was killed in the severe weather conditions in Athens.
ITV News' Martha Fairlie reports:
A woman died and dozens of commuters were trapped in their cars as torrential rain flooded Athens today, thought to be the heaviest downpour the Greek capital has seen for half a century.
More than one month's rainfall fell in just a couple of hours as powerlines faltered and darkened large parts of the city during the overnight cloudburst.
A river broke its banks and traffic jams brought much of Athens to a standstill in the morning rush hour.
Police said a 27-year-old woman died of a probable heart attack after being trapped in her car in the northern suburb of Halandri.
"This is the worst storm since 1961. We're talking about 52 years without ever having seen such a heavy downpour in this area," meteorologist Yannis Kallianos told state television.
An EU official said officials from Greece's creditors EU/ECB/IMF have postponed Monday's visit to Athens.
The Greek conservative newspaper Eleftheros Typos called the victim a "martyr for Greece" and said his act was filled with "profound political symbolism" that could "shock Greek society and the political world and awaken their conscience" before a parliamentary election to determine Greece's future.
Anger over the suicide was directed as much at politicians as it was at the harsh austerity medicine prescribed by foreign lenders in return for aid to lift the country out of its worst economic crisis since World War Two.
So far this week, police reported that at least four people have tried to kill themselves because of financial troubles.
A Greek pensioner has committed suicide outside the country's parliament in Athens.
The retired pharmacist, Dimitris Christoulas, shot himself in the head on Wednesday after saying financial troubles had pushed him over the edge.
A suicide note said the 77-year-old preferred to die than scavenge for food.
The highly public - and symbolic - nature of the suicide prompted an outpouring of sympathy from Greeks, who set up an impromptu shrine where he killed himself with hand-written notes condemning the crisis. Some protested at night, clashing with riot police who sent them home in clouds of tear gas.
On Thursday, dozens of Greeks gathered around the shrine, leaving flowers and candles, and the "Indignant" protesters who held daily sit-ins for months last year said they would hold a second day of protests. A separate protest was planned in the northern city of Thessaloniki.