Need some ideas please, no running water and in area with a flood.

[Hellokittymania]

Hi everyone, first of all, I am fine. I’m a very very strong person, and if I can get through this, I can get through anything. I am nearly totally blind, just so everybody is aware and can take that into consideration, I bought a home back in March, involve Laos, and central Greece, which has just been hit by a very bad flood. I have been managing through this on my own, I lived in Vietnam for many years, and that has helped hugely here. I managed to go to the supermarket yesterday, and found things like baby wipes, some things that I can fry like Origenes and peppers, I bought wooden cutlery, I have paper plates and cups here. I’m doing what’s easiest at the moment.

as far as the water situation goes, do you have any ideas for recipes on the stove top that don’t require water but I can just use oil, because I lived in Vietnam, crispy noodles came to mind if I put them together with the peppers and tomatoes and aubergines. I can make salads with what I have, I do have a slow cooker as well, and we have electricity in our building, thankfully.

as far as trying to keep things clean, I do have that all another cleaning supplies that I can just wipe down things with. For the pots and pans, I learned yesterday that you can cover things with salt or baking soda to remove the oil, and then go over them with vinegar, lemon or vodka… I don’t have any vodka, I should’ve picked that one up yesterday ha ha. I could clean and drink at the same time. Yes, I do still have my sense of humor.

thankfully I’m very old-fashioned and have a radio with batteries, so I’m getting the news from there because our Internet is still very sketchy, and I’m blasting the music and dancing. It helps.

I have managed to clean up most of the inside of my home, I’m on the top floor but unfortunately the roof in our building leaked and it was like it was raining inside… Not to mention parts of my ceiling were also leaking as well. What can I do about water that got on the furniture so that it doesn’t get moldy? None of the shops are open yet, and apart from the supermarket, which also has limited supply, I don’t have access to much at the moment.

i’m sure I will come back with other questions, but for right now, anything you can contribute that would help, would be greatly appreciated.

also, some good vibes would be really much appreciated. The sun is coming out today, thankfully. They were playing happy by Pharrell Williams on the radio earlier and I was blasting it. Many of my friends have neither electricity or water, so I’m trying to cheer them up. Also, whenever I’m learning a life hack that will help at the moment, I’m sharing it. Many people are on their own, like me, and it’s important to get through this thing in one piece and keep smiling.

Hopefully you can at least flush the loo with the bucket water.
Those wheelchair tires for sand and gravel start at £500 so I have absolutely zero idea of how good they might be, and am likely to remain ignorant. 😂 (crying with laughter emoji) Once the worst of the mud is sorted most people in wheelchairs make reasonable water carriers!

You may not be aware that the red cross in Greece is called the Hellenic Red Cross.

Allegedly Volos is distributing free bottled water to residents in various parts of the city.
It sounds like the actual pumping station infrastructure has been damaged, so it might be a longer haul for some, depending on area.

There may be much better organizations, but thought if you don't know about these folk you might want to: www.disabled.gr/ They are mainly run by folk with severe mobility disabilities, but that might well mean having to have transport! I reckon most with serious mobility issues can recognize how sight issues could impact on emergencies and would care. They might just be useful if this doesn't resolve in a reasonable time.

Can you write what you want to say, use google translate and show your neighbours? Maybe they can then tell you more info about who to contact in terms of any emergency response?

I don't know if this is useful: there is apparently an emergency coordination center set up in Volos town hall yesterday operating under Deputy Minister Christos Triandopoulos.

You sound mighty resilient. I wish you well and hope you have some local hooch to get you through and make your meals more palatable.
Good luck with the clean up and recovery.

I realize the reality of how things run and where they are versus all sorts of impediments, may make some of what looks hopeful, actually no blooming use at all BTW!

(mutters darkly about how in UK the one time you urgently need help with your rent and council tax is when you're in hospital and unable to work, but being in hospital and unable to work means you're specifically precluded from help with your rent and council tax!)

Thank you so much for the resources, I didn’t know about the emergency station at the town hall, I can walk there, I’m not sure where the free water stations are, and unfortunately since we have sketchy Internet, the app that I usually use which is visually impaired friendly, of course doesn’t help. I am pretty good with mobility, if I know the road, I’m sure I will find it but there are a lot of things that I have seen but I don’t know where to go. There was somebody who was making meals, from what I’ve heard they are unable to make them so far because they don’t have water, but it’s on the road I have never been before.

for the Google translate, I can try, but I speak a few languages and Google translate can really get things wrong sometimes…

The Prime Minister is here, his helicopter flew over my house, well, at least I think that was his helicopter. It’s the only helicopter I’ve heard at 7 PM, and he is expected to arrive now.

I know it might not be your first instinct, I have a tendency to fierce independence including sometimes when it's not in my best interests, but there are times and national and local emergencies really are one, if only so that the municiple planning for something worse includes 'what if someone can't access X?'
I think if you can safely get there and back, turning up at the town hall's emergency co-ordination center, avec white stick, might just get a lot of issues solved for you a lot quicker, and make your immediate life just a little bit less tough...

I will go there tomorrow, hopefully it will be open. Just having some of my almond milk, bread and, not sure what I will have yet on my bread. Big debate of the day… I do have some peanut butter here, might have a tiny bit of it. Little treats get you through the day in times like this…

You sound very stoic and resourceful OP, hope it goes well tomorrow with getting to the town hall. Are the roads mainly clear now or still flooded in places?

Thank you so much,

Sorry, Internet was out. Roads are still very bad, it’s the mud that is everywhere, and water.

Hello there kitty, how nice to see you on Mumsnet again, but I'm so sorry that it is a disaster that has brought you back here.

I've been watching the frightening footage of the Volos flooding on the BBC, as I know the town. It looks dreadful, but I'm glad you're safe. You sound very resourceful and brave kitty!

Some food ideas...
At the supermarket keep a look out for tinned fish, as that doesn't need cooking. I know the Greeks really don't use much dairy, but you might find small tins or tubes of evaporated or condensed milk.
Look out for couscous/bulgar wheat, as that only needs soaking, not cooking. You could use fruit juice or soda water, then adjust the taste with lemon juice, herbs etc.

See if you can get any tomatoes, or fruits like figs or apricots. Then you could cook a joint of lamb in your slow cooker, with some figs & wine for the liquid, add some broken up pasta or small chopped up potatoes for bulk. Or you could add tins of chickpeas or beans with their liquid.

You will be able to make a ratatouille type vegetable stew in your slow cooker too, with whatever is available.

You will probably be able to get lemons, or see if your neighbours have lemon trees, use lemon juice to balance the flavour of your food.

You can cook with beer, especially stew type meals in the slow cooker, in Belgium there is a whole cuisine based on beer.

Sorry I don't have any practical advice to help you kitty, but I hope everything can be sorted out, and you quickly get water available.

Another thought - can you get Greek yoghurts? They’re quite nutritious and can help dryer food go down. My Turkish friend eats plain yoghurt with just about anything.

I’ve been thinking of you @Hellokittymania and hope you’re getting on ok today.

Hi everyone, I will write another message later. My favorite coffee shop has somehow miraculously opened, I have no idea how, but I’m so happy and they just gave me hot food on the house, so very grateful. They are also going to help to find some resources as well

found out a couple of things this morning, the little water we’ve had through the top is very dirty, and since I have been storing it in my bathtub, it left stains everywhere. I didn’t realize this. And I’m guessing the water that fell in from the ceiling must’ve been the same, the neighbor on my floor, who lives in Athens, managed to come here today with her son, their apartment was quite bad as well. I had taken a video during the flood, so I showed them what happened in the hallway. Both of our doors are very very difficult to open, I’m not the strongest of people, so this is a challenge for me, but they said it might be due to the humidity and the door still being very wet. Nobody seems to know if the building is in short, I don’t think a lot of people think about that here, there are some people in our building, like my neighbor, who are on their flats, but they told me to check with the building supervisor. It might be that they will fix the building and we each have to pay some thing, but I don’t know yet. I hate to think of the cost in this case… It has been exactly 6 months today that I have owned my property, and they say it will feel like a home when you make memories in it… Well, so far I have been through a fire, been through a flood, and the day I signed the contract for my home, they were protesting outside because of the train crash in February… My lawyer was locked inside of the bank, because the bank went into lockdown, when we were supposed to be signing the final contract… I am definitely making memories… Although I wish they would be slightly… Less Intense… If I can put it that way

Love your sense of (gallows) humour. Glad to hear the café is open, everything is better with coffee!

Your neighbors are right, a wet door/ door frame and humidity, will cause the wood to swell and make it harder to open and close. The door here isn't even wet but has been sticking in the heat as it's made it swell. Hopefully as yours dries out it will ease off.
Oddly the water that has come through your roof may not be nearly as dirty as what has come through the tap. What's come through the roof will have been clean rain water that's picked up a bit of general ceiling dust etc on its way through, whereas what's come through the tap is likely to be full of sediment that's been emergency pumped up from the bottom of the main water tanks if that makes any sense. There are other reasons why it might be mucky as well. Hopefully they wil get pumps and filtration systems up and running fast.
You are certainly having a run of stressful events!
Very glad to hear your coffee shop is up and running and looking out for you.

Hello, @Hellokittymania funnily enough I was going to suggest calling at a local café, as in Greece they are such community hubs, with the owners often having a huge network of family links in the area. So the café will get all the up to date information and news.
How kind of them to give you some food too, I'm sure you were glad of that kitty.

As everything starts to dry out, your door will start to fit better I'm sure. It's good that there are now other people on your floor, who you can ask for help if necessary.

Have you managed to get a supply of drinkable water yet? I hope you keep safe while you are out and about.

Yes, I was definitely happy to have some thing hot this morning, sorry, this evening, I can’t think. I forgot to go back before dark, got horribly lost, people were trying to help, and eventually somebody just brought me home. So I ended up with a huge headache. Today is the six month anniversary of me being a homeowner, at least I got a free meal. That was nice. as for drinkable water, I should have some tomorrow. I can’t sleep, so I just had a banana, one of the hazelnut cream filled croissants, and a glass of almond milk. Not the healthiest, but it keeps me happy. The health Authority sent out a warning today about people already getting sick because of the water, and they have said that disease could spread, so I’m trying to be very very careful. There is mud all over my floor, though… I tried as best I could to sweep it, but sweeping is not easy for me. I did try and Hoover areas that weren’t affected by water, but I’m not sure if trying to Hoover mod is a good idea… I don’t think so.

I do have medicine to take for my headache, thankfully. I’m going to take some thing and try and get rid of it. The coffee shop told me to go back in the morning and they will try and get more information for me.

Somebody mentioned yesterday about me getting dehydrated, that could possibly be it as well, I just don’t want to drink the bottled water I have. So I’m trying to drink other things, but I’m not drinking much.

By the way, off-topic, but Might help as well if I share this, so I can focus on something positive. Being a first time, owner, homeowner, in Greece, and lasting for six months, is a huge, huge milestones for me. It has been a tough couple of months, as many of you can imagine, but I have began to do research, and, get ideas to set up an organization for people with disabilities here. Ada, I don’t know if you know. AMEA but it’s the Greek term for people with special needs, so my new organization is going to be called. Ameazing…. Get it? My mom is working on the logo for me. She hasn’t been very well either, so it gives her something to do. I had really wanted to replace the coffee shop that employed people with disabilities locally, but I’m thinking of other ideas, one of them would be to do a summer camp, another would be to offer six week courses around Greece, in different things, and then offer a certificate at the end. we could do things like cooking, pottery, creative, writing, languages, different things. I am researching things to set up a website at the moment. Anyway, totally off-topic, but it’s something to keep my mind on and to stay positive. Sometimes, especially as a new homeowner, I have to focus on why I enjoy it here.

Oh @Hellokittymania I have nothi g to add, you have had some great advice from other posters but I remember you from the trampoline thread when you first moved in. What an awful thing to go through.

Single, boy am I glad I don’t have a trampoline!! Do you know what I did end up getting though? I managed to find a beautiful egg chair, which is under the small awning on my balcony, it’s survived all this, the cushions are trying to dry in the sunshine. But I love having my coffee in that chair. I also bought, a porch swing, but it’s actually in my bedroom. I was too afraid that one would have blown away… I am still trying to furnish my place, little by little. I’m not quite there, yet…

I was actually supposed to go surfing a couple of weeks ago, but the teacher wasn’t in town… We are still trying to find different activities I can do, but all of this takes time. It hasn’t been easy, it still is not easy, but, I’m getting there.