Hanna Sumari was caught in the middle of the Rhodes disaster – Now tells IL about the seriousness of the situation: “Horrible”

Hanna Sumari had to be evacuated from the hotel during her holiday in Greece. PDO

The wildfires burning in the resorts of Rhodes have become a topic of conversation. The worst situation is in Lindos and Kiotar, where at least 160 Finnish tourists have been evacuated from their hotels. Presenter-journalist known from Suomen kaunein koti program Hanna Sumari was evacuated from his hotel in Lindos last night.

The tour operator Aurinkomatkat transported the vacationers away from the danger zone to the northern end of the island in the morning. As all the hotels were full, the travelers were placed in the pool area of ​​one of the hotels to sleep on sunbeds.

– This is where we are still, Hanna Sumari, reached by Iltalehti, says in a cheerful tone on the phone.

– My vacation is a small drop in this big picture. This is horrible. Local people are losing their homes, and animals are dying. It’s a shame that we’re even here to add to climate change when we came here by plane.

Sumari and her travel companions were able to take their luggage with them to the evacuation hotel, which is located 50 kilometers from the resort.

– There is no sign of wildfires here, he says.

– I’m lying here and I see that all the time new planes are coming here to Rhodes. A couple of new machines will also arrive from Finland today. I know it because friends are coming here. I sent them a message at night asking if they knew what they were getting into. It’s funny that more tourists come here all the time. People are without homes, and the hotel rooms are fully booked.

Tens of thousands of locals have been evacuated from their homes, and the weekend temperature has been warned to reach up to 45 degrees.

Serious situation

According to Hanna Sumari, the seriousness of the situation began to appear to the holiday party almost as soon as they arrived in Rhodes.

– We were already here in the morning. Little by little, during the day, a senseless cloud of smoke could be seen behind the mountains. Ashes started flying and the air was bitter with smoke. It doesn’t have much of a holiday feel to it. I thought, hell, I’m here to plow and what’s going on over there at arm’s length, he says.

Sumari describes wildfires as uncontrollable.

– They are flying water from the sea there and they are clearly trying to delimit the area of ​​fire. There is a strong gusty wind here, this is out of control. I watched the BBC news, looks bad.

– Yes, this is where you get the feeling of how much you want to fly in the future and what needs to be done about climate change. I would like to transfer the responsibility to the big operators, but I myself flew here anyway.

Holiday extension?

According to Sumari, the atmosphere at the evacuation hotel is welcoming, and people have offered their hotel rooms as a place to rest.

– I bought us return tickets at night. The flight leaves on Tuesday evening. We also got an Airbnb apartment here until Tuesday. We were very lucky. People are absolutely fantastic towards each other, Sumari praises.

He says he received a message from the tour operator about a possible return to the holiday hotel. Sumari says that she is in two stages, whether to continue the vacation as planned for the whole week or not.

– There is a tense atmosphere here. Fires are a serious matter and it is tragic what happens to local people and animals. My friend reminded me of the other side of the coin: Greeks live on tourist income all year round. Yes, this situation weighs on the whole body, he says.

Sumari says that she has been working non-stop all summer. The vacation week in Greece was supposed to be the one thing that would break the work pipeline and give room to breathe.

– I do not care. I’m just trying to justify the fact that I’ve flown, he laughs.