ATHENS — The state will stand by Evia residents and businesspeople who lost their properties during the thunderstorms on the weekend, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said during a visit on Monday.

Accompanied by several ministers and civil protection authorities, Mitsotakis said he would push for faster compensation by the state. A plan will be announced on Tuesday by a government team that will first assess damage to homes and farms in person.

Speaking of destroyed crops and flooded farmland, the premier said he will request the presence of Agriculture Ministry officials on the assessment team for farmers' compensations, "because I realize that it may not just be this year's crop they lost, but their farmland may have also suffered infrastructural damage."

Mitsotakis spoke highly of emergency responders, including search and rescue teams, firefighters and Civil Protection staff, and said they were fighting on multiple fronts the past few months – coronavirus pandemic, fires and floods, among other emergencies.

Following on-site tours of areas, the premier chaired a meeting with local government officials and ministers on the situation.