Flood waters in Stratoni.
Greece: Stratoni rainfall event
In February 2010 an extreme rainfall event occurred in the Halkidiki region. The effects were considerable and impacted the mine infrastructure, Stratoni mill and the local village infrastructure. In total, 247mm of rainfall fell in a 24 hour period compared to a yearly average of 650mm rainfall.
The effects of this extreme event included:
- Stratoni village was extensively flooded
- 85 houses in the wider region were flooded including 15 shops
- The old road that connects Olympias with Stratoni entirely washed away
- The National Road was washed away in 3 places
- Approx 70,000m3 of debris was swept into the village
- The potable water circuit was affected – for 1 week the village no ordinary
access to drinking water except from our own facilities - The mine did not operate for 4 days with a further 6 days operating at lower production
Hellas Gold impact:
During the extreme weather event tailings facilities were not breached and the safety systems Hellas Gold have in place proved vital. All water on site was handled swiftly and without any contamination which allowed our team to focus efforts and resources on helping the local community.
Hellas Gold were critical to the cleanup of the Stratoni area in providing specialist labour and mine equipment. More than 300 people were involved in the cleanup operation including all Hellas Gold employees, Aktor staff and contractors. This enabled the majority of affected areas to be cleaned up in approximately 20 days. As many of the local shops were flooded, we assisted other relief efforts including churches in the wider Halkidiki region who provided supplies including bottled water and food. Four badly affected families were re-housed.
All underground equipment from Stratoni mine was transported to surface to help clean up the mine site and the village and transport debris away from the village. Specialist equipment was also borrowed from Ellaktor subsidiary companies operating in the wider region and with their help roads were repaired, creeks were cleaned and flood water was pumped away thus reducing the effect on the local community.