Toll from Greek floods rises to 23 as 2 new deaths reported

ATHENS, Greece: Greek authorities on Monday raised to 23 the death toll from heavy flooding near Athens this month, after one more body was found and an injured woman died in hospital.

It was not immediately clear whether the victim was the person listed as missing following the floods, which also damaged about 1,000 buildings.

The Health Ministry also said Monday that an elderly woman who had been hospitalized with severe injuries as a result of the flooding, died over the weekend.

Officials have blamed the disaster _ one of Greece's deadliest floods in decades _ on poor town planning and insufficient flood prevention measures, as much of the afflicted area had been built on filled-in torrent beds.

Torrents of water descending from a nearby mountain turned roads into racing rivers of mud and debris in the modest working-class district of Mandra and nearby Nea Peramos, flung cars into buildings, swept away walls and inundated a major highway.

The Fire Brigade said the man's body was found buried in mud near a bus station in the small town of Mandra, west of Athens, that suffered the brunt of the Nov. 15 flash floods.