The sudden downpour that hit areas of Attica on Saturday afternoon resulted in the Ilissos River “swelling” at the height of Moschatos.
At that time there were teenage children riding bicycles at the scene and before they knew it, they were trapped in the bed of Ilissos. Video taken by a passerby shows them rushing water of the river, while the children were finally freed via a ladder.
Forecast Weather Greece posted the video on facebook:
The Ilissos river of Attica
THE Ilissos is a river of Athens andleads from the northwestern slopes of Hymettos. Passing south-east through the basin of Attica, it ends at Faliric Bay. As Wikipedia states, Plato called it “ὑδάτιον”, because it was depleted in the summer. The river flowed along and outside the walls of Athens, from antiquity to modern times. In the 18th century, opposite the Panathenaic Stadiumin order to access it, existed stone bridge with two arches. Opposite the current church of Agia Fotini was the fountain Kallirroi.
THE Ilissos was considered holy river. Its bed began to be covered during Metaxas in the late 1930s, from the height of the old Gendarmerie School to the former Stadium bridge, to create today’s Michalakopoulou Avenue, which gives its position behind the Hilton to Vasileos Konstantinou up to approximately the Panathenaic Stadium. From there to the junction of Vas. Konstantinou with Vouliagmeni Avenue there is a small section of uncovered bed, parallel to Vas. Konstantinou towards the side of Olympia, which has been designated as an archaeological site. Then Kallirrois street follows the river bed. The coating work of Ilissos was completed in the early 1960s.
From ancient times until the 20th century, Ilissos did not flow into the sea, but was a tributary of Kifissos, with which it contributed north of today’s Moschatos. During the covering works, the river was diverted and a new bed was created, below Panagi Tsaldari Street on the borders of the Municipalities of Moschatos and Kallithea, which flows into the middle of the Faleri bay.