Stuck in Rhodes

[TooTrusting]

I was just east of Gennadi, 5 minutes away, at Atlantica Dreams resort (Tui). All day yesterday there was a steady stream of evacuated guests from other hotels arriving.
The fire seemed to die down at around 3pm. But by 7 it was raging again.
We were told one of us needed to stay up all night to listen gif the evacuation siren.
There were hundreds of evacuees there by then.
Just before 10pm we were evacuated. We walked to the road where there was a coach and some cattle trucks. It was chaos and hard not to be separated from my DCs (23, 19, 17 & 17). We had no idea where we were going. I had to calm and keep company 2 distraught children (circa 14 and 8) who had got separated from their parents. I lost a shoe and one DC their phone. We had to jettison the one small cabin size suitcase we had brought our essentials in.
Our truck broke down and we walked about a mile, again not knowing where we were going, and were eventually directed onto Gennadi beach. There were around 2000 people there all crammed together. Small boats, capacity around 10, went back and forth between ferry boats and the shore. There was no Dunkirk spirit. People were tired, upset and frightened. Some had not slept for 2 nights.

It took 4 hours until we finally managed to get on one at around 2. It was bedlam with everyone shoving and barging. I was separated from the DCs several times. Nobody knew where we were going.

We were on the ferry around 4 hours before arriving in Rhodes Town at c6.30am. We sailed through ash clouds and people had towels tied round their faces. People were taken off in different buses. We ended up in a school with 150 others. But there was nothing there for us, no beds, mats, washing facilities or food and it was boiling hot.
There was no list so the authorities have no idea who has gone where. It is a total lie for Tui to say they have re accommodated everyone. They have not. They have no idea where I am and until their phone lines open I cannot contact them either. The only info we have been given is an FCO number for advice on travel and consular assistance (which we don't need).
Luckily I have 24 hour insurance access and when I'd re charged my phone was able to establish I am covered (was worried it would be an "act of God"). I have booked a hotel for 1 night, after a long search. I've just arrived - it's chaos with everyone sleeping on the floor.
Just before we left the school a band of volunteers arrived laden with food and one of them thinks our hotel may have been burned down and we are unlikely to get back to try to retrieve our stuff. She says Gennadi is mostly gone.

We leave on Wednesday. We can't check in here til 2 and need to go and buy clothes and essentials. All we have is what we are standing in.

Which is exactly why contingency plans should have been in place!!!

OP, do you think that things will calm down and return to "normal service" for visitors and residents soon? I can see in my mind's eye unaffected hotels reopening next week and if the flights are continuing to land well, I can see this going off the front page next week. Unless something re-ignites and hopefully that won't happen.

I understand that people in your situation might want to get back home asap, but there are people who will stay on if the authorities say it is safe to do so. Meanwhile others are arriving every day anyway.

Wildfires are so unpredictable, that's why they are so terrifying. But they are not a new phenomenon in certain areas of the Med and other regions at all. This one is bad because of the evacuation from an island situation. I doubt it would be as tricky and frightening on the mainland. But who knows?

Do try and keep us posted, and stay safe and I hope it works out for you and your family.

But most people have 1 a year. If that. That’s still 180 million flights (including returns). It’s too many.

*obviously I mean flights taken, not aeroplanes!

I do really feel for you, it’s an awful thing to happen. However, the nature of a natural disaster is that it happens suddenly, is of an unpredictable nature and you can’t expect the tour operators to have more information than the emergency services. I hope you get home safely and as quickly as possible but really, getting cross with your holiday company is a bit ridiculous at this point. There is very very little they can control.

I'd be very glad to get out alive and uninjured. Nothing else matters.

It’s a horrible situation but it’s a disaster emergency and the holiday reps are likely to have as much info as you. In those situations people have to sit tight and follow local instructions. Absolutely horrible when you’ve saved for a holiday, but of course pales into insignificance compared to those who have lost their homes and livelihood. Someone I know was due to fly tomorrow and was going to go, until it was cancelled. People do need to take some responsibility too and not go when it’s likely they could be caught up in a crisis like this. Thankfully travel companies seeing sense and not bringing out anymore Brits. Hopefully there will be some rescue flights to bring people home

A question - what did you manage to take with you when you evacuated? On reflection is there anything you wish you'd taken but left behind?

Please do explain 'people like me'.

Its a horrible situation and there are going to be many scary stories of people running for their lives but most important thing is you are safe. Really hope you get your money back and can book another holiday and make happy memories and put this horrible experience behind you.

I hope Rhodes tourism will recover quickly aswell as ive always found the Greek people to be the friendliest people and have read several news articles on hotel staff helping the tourists beyond what you would ever expect them to do. Feel for the young Reps out there too, im sure there are some on their first season abroad who must be totally overwhelmed dealing with this too.

We are here and meant to fly back Thursday early hours, we went through same experience as Op, just want to call out the guys who operate the boats got us to safety, unsung heroes, regular folks who just operate tour boats up all night getting us to safety, it was confusing and not clear where we was going, TUI needed to be pro active on the app, but me thinks it was local and national authority's running the show nothing for TUI to direct or do, out of there hands perhaps.

Ok worrying elements your on a boat and no life jackets, one tragedy potential to lead to a castrophe, we felt safe on the boat just something to think about, lucky the waters were calm.

Then when we got to the school, a small primary school, nothing special, yet number of folks and mainly young adults handing out biscuits, water, few other things, well done and thank you so much, I don't know if volunteers or hired but lovely folk.

Same for the drivers who got us from port to. School, I think many folks did what they could.

Lesson learnt for me once we was in school and it was morning should have just looked for alternative accommodation, rather wait for reps to turn up I think just too many folks for them to relocate and help, I've insurance and hopefully claim back.

We met some great folks and tried to keep spirits up, breakfast in a local cafe, and by luck another couple with link to a local b and b, secured that for night and wait for updates... Feel fortunate I know others may not be and had much harder time.

You might not have your phone or be able to charge it. I've everyone's passports emailed to myself so could access on any device.

This attitude is exactly why we'll never reduce or stop the damage. If everyone carried on like you things will get worse. If everyone made one small change we might have a chance.

Have you heard such phrases as 'every little bit helps' or 'look after the pennies and the pounds take care of themselves'? Indicating that small changes have large effects.

Just add been up 24hrs straight could not sleep kids got some in, as young's ones are entertained themselves when at the school with other kids.

One couple had a toddler and were part of the original evacuation folks who had moved twice already, just hope everyone gets home safe and sound including locals.

Early indications of Arson for the fire according to one newspaper…throw away the key when they catch them.

Glad you're safe @H202020. The locals sound absolutely wonderful. It must have been very alarming and worrying for them too. Restores your faith in human nature.

Hook, line and sinker!!

I hate being patronised and lectured to.

🙄

Isitautumnyet...maybe accidental fireworks would do it

I mean you can have all the emergency plans and drills but you cannot know that they will be implementable in a chaotic evacuation - especially in this case where a late wind change meant that areas considered "safe" in the late afternoon were suddenly in the path of the fire a couple of hours later

• you can plan to bus people out in an emergency - but where do you find the busses with no notice? I have read reports of 19,000 people evacuated so the holiday companies (both British and from other countries) are competing with locals wanting busses and hospitals and care homes also having to evacuate. So what if the busses envisaged in the plan cannot be chartered?
• It's almost impossible to know in advance what roads are going to be open and what will be blocked by the fire or emergency routes. So often the busses that you have managed to charter may get stuck somewhere and not able to reach the destination. In rural areas there may not be many alternative routes.
• The plan may say that in an emergency evacuees will be housed in other hotels. But this is peak season late July (the rest of Europe is midway through their summer hols) - so where do you find accommodation for several thousand people, with no notice on a Saturday night?
• There is a cost of living crisis and many people can't pay a lot more. Plus Brexit has made it expensive to employ UK staff that used to act as holiday reps. So many holiday companies have gone over to online models of communicating with clients - but this means there are very few reps on the ground to practice and implement plans.

I live in a part of Sweden that was very affected by major forest fires a few years ago. Sweden as a country that is very big on planning however the reports after the event showed that not all parts of the plan could be implemented because forest fires are so unpredictable, especially in windy weather - they move very fast, can change direction without warning, can jump motorways and large lakes leading to rescuers becoming trapped.

I'm currently in Rhodes staying not far from Rhodes Town so at the moment we're not in any immediate danger. Just reading all of the stories about the evacuation has made me incredibly anxious and there just doesn't seem to be any info available as to how the fight against the fire is going or whether there is a risk it will spread further or in what direction.

Our hotel is on the flight path and I've been astonished at the number of flights that are continuing to arrive on the island! I can't believe they're all empty and have come to take evacuees home.

It's a miracle there have been no fatalities and my heart goes out to all the locals who will have lost their homes and livelihoods and the tourists who've had to evacuate.

Stay safe everyone who is still here ❤️

glad you are safe also @H202020
so many have been evacuated.

This is so true - i’ve said its great we dont get pestered to go to Welcome Meetings on holiday anymore (remember those?) and I cant remember the last time I saw a Rep in a hotel abroad. Everything is done over apps these days. Its great when everything works fine, but we cant expect the Reps to be able to coordinate everything when it all goes wrong, as there are just not enough of them needed normally.

Follow local advice in a situation like this - i’d rather take the advice of the staff in the hotels who know the area so well. This is an extreme situation and it sounds like the locals have been heroes helping everyone.

I've seen a newspaper report linked on twitter saying 9 people have been arrested for arson. It's not just one fire is it? Seems like several.