ATHENS — Climate Crisis and Civil Protection Minister Christos Stylianides and Deputy Minister Evangelos Tournas on Tuesday convened an urgent teleconference with the country's 13 regional governors, Deputy Minister for Citizen Protection Lefteris Economou, Secretary General for Civil Protection Vassilis Papageorgiou and the general director of Coordination at the Civil Protection General Secretariat, Phoebos Theodorou, ahead of the severe weather system "Ballos" expected to arrive in Greece within the next few days.

During the meeting, it was stressed that all the various agencies involved must be in a state of readiness and high alert to immediately respond to possible problems that may arise.

The minister underlined that regions and municipalities must coordinate closely and take the measures they are responsible for, according to the comprehensive general civil protection action plan against flooding phenomena, code named "Dardanos".

Stylianides noted that the top priority was and will be the protection of human life.

Partly cloudy, scattered showers on Wednesday

Improved weather and winds from variable directions are forecast for Wednesday. Wind velocity will reach 5 on the Beaufort scale. Partly cloudy with a chance of rain in the northern parts of the country and temperatures ranging from 10C to 19C. Scattered showers in the western parts with temperatures between 15C and 21C. Partly cloudy with scattered showers in the eastern parts, 11C-23C. Partly cloudy in the Aegean islands and Crete, 19C-25C. Partly cloudy and scattered showers in Athens, 16C-22C. Partly cloudy in Thessaloniki, 12C-19C.