Athens, Sep 16 (IANS): Ten days after a severe storm ravaged central Greece, claiming 15 lives and causing destructive flooding, villages around Lake Karla were put on alert for possible further inundation, the media reported.

As the Pineios river, one of Greece's largest river, continued to pour water into the lake, authorities warned locals about the threat posed by the rising water levels to the few remaining parts of the Thessaly region that had yet to be flooded, Xinhua news agency reported.

So far, at least 45 villages and parts of the cities of Larissa and Volos were affected, with 4,594 people evacuated, more than 70,000 hectare of land submerged in muddy waters, over 200,000 animals killed and crops devastated, according to the latest update by Greek authorities released on Thursday.

Thousands of people were still without access to safe drinking water as efforts to restore damaged critical infrastructure continued.

On Friday afternoon, the Infrastructure and Transport Ministry decided to reopen sections of the national motorway connecting the capital Athens to northern Greece for vehicles weighing up to 3.5 ton, which had been closed due to flooding since last week.