Corfu Floods Cut Roads And Transfers November 2025

Published on Nov 21, 2025, 11:58 am CST

8 min read

Key points

Northern Corfu is under a local state of emergency after floods and landslides cut roads and power
Heavy rain also affects Parga, Arta, Ioannina, Igoumenitsa and parts of Western Macedonia, with rural roads and farmland inundated
Greek meteorologists keep an orange alert in place for the Ionian Islands, Epirus and Aetolia Acarnania through late November 21, 2025
Airport operations at Corfu International Airport Ioannis Kapodistrias (CFU) continue, but ground transfers and self drive routes may be slow or blocked
Travelers should favor main coastal and highway routes, avoid mountain roads after dark and add buffer time for ferries and flights over the next few days

Impact

Where Impacts Are Most Likely: Expect the worst disruption on northern Corfu between Acharavi, Sidari and Karousades and on low lying rural roads near Parga, Arta and Ioannina
Best Times To Travel: Plan essential drives and transfers in daylight hours on November 21 and 22, 2025 when visibility is higher and local crews can react to new landslides
Onward Travel And Changes: Leave wider connection windows for flights from Corfu and Ioannina and for ferries from Igoumenitsa and be ready to reroute via main highways if village roads are closed
What Travelers Should Do Now: Check with hotels, transfer companies and car rental desks about access roads, monitor local alerts and consider shifting nonessential trips by a day
Health And Safety Factors: Avoid walking or driving through floodwater, stay clear of steep slopes where fresh landslides are reported and pay attention to 112 emergency alerts on your phone

Corfu floods road closures now affect how travelers move between Corfu, Greece, and the wider Ionian and Epirus region, because local authorities declared a state of emergency for Northern Corfu on November 21, 2025 after days of torrential rain. The same storm belt has flooded parts of Epirus around Parga, Arta, Ioannina and Igoumenitsa, as well as sections of Western Macedonia, turning roads into rivers of mud and cutting power in pockets of the countryside. Travelers heading for resorts, villas and mountain villages over the coming days should expect detours, slower transfers and occasional road closures, and they should build in extra time for ferries and flights.

The Corfu floods road closures mean that while flights can still reach Corfu International Airport Ioannis Kapodistrias (CFU), the hardest hit inland and coastal roads in northern Corfu and Epirus may make reaching resorts or ports slower, more circuitous or temporarily impossible through at least November 22, 2025.

Where The Emergency Has Been Declared

Greek media report that the municipality of Northern Corfu entered a formal local state of emergency after a meeting between the regional governor of the Ionian Islands, the mayor and senior fire service officials on November 21, following extensive damage from continuous downpours. Heavy rain since midday November 20 triggered landslides, road blockages and power cuts across the north of the island, with village streets in places like Karousades transformed into torrents of mud and debris.

In one of the most serious incidents, an entire slope above Karousades reportedly gave way, damaging parked vehicles and nearby houses, although these dwellings were unoccupied at the time. Schools in the northern part of Corfu have been closed as a precaution, and specialist rescue teams from the 5th EMAK unit in Ioannina have been deployed with lifeboats, pumps and rescue equipment to support local responders.

Impacts Across Epirus And Western Greece

The same storm system is hitting the mainland coast and interior. Reporting from Parga, Arta, Ioannina and Igoumenitsa describes swollen rivers, flooded farmland and repeated landslides on mountain roads, particularly in Thesprotia and the wider Epirus region. In the Kalamas river valley, fields of citrus trees and other crops are standing in water, and rural tracks and low lying access roads have been covered in mud, making some agricultural areas temporarily unreachable.

Authorities have also issued 112 emergency alerts to residents and visitors in Ioannina, Arta, Preveza and Thesprotia, warning of intense rainfall, flood risk and possible landslides, and advising people to avoid unnecessary travel and follow instructions from civil protection services. Local coverage from towns such as Filippiada notes temporary closures of key connector roads like the Palaia to Nea Filippiada route due to water and debris across the carriageway, with municipal and regional crews working to restore at least single lane access where conditions allow.

In the mountainous provincial road network around Konitsa and Pogoni, repeated rockfalls and landslides have been reported, forcing heavy machinery into round the clock clearance work. That matters for travelers planning self drive loops into the Pindus mountains or combining Corfu with road trips through Epirus, because many scenic secondary roads are precisely the ones most exposed to saturated slopes and blocked culverts.

Flights, Ferries And Transfers

As of the afternoon of November 21, there were no first party announcements of a complete closure of Corfu International Airport Ioannis Kapodistrias, and live data providers list the airport as operational, although individual flights may face delays during heavier storm cells. Ioannina National Airport King Pyrrhus (IOA) and Aktion National Airport (PVK), which serve parts of Epirus and the Preveza and Lefkada area, are also open, but they share the same regional weather environment and travelers should check status close to departure.

The more immediate constraint is on how travelers reach and leave these airports and nearby ports. Shuttle buses, private transfers and taxis that usually use local back roads to reach resorts in northern Corfu, such as Sidari, Acharavi and Roda, may have to reroute onto main coastal roads or temporarily suspend service if landslides block a narrow section. On the mainland, buses linking Igoumenitsa with inland towns like Ioannina will slow down or take detours when landslides or floodwater block sections of the Egnatia Odos feeder roads, even if the main motorway itself remains largely passable.

Ferry lines between Corfu town and Igoumenitsa, as well as local boat services around the Ionian Islands, can usually operate in heavy rain, but short notice timetable changes are possible if thunderstorms come with strong winds or if harbor authorities temporarily restrict movements. Travelers with tight same day connections, for example a morning ferry from Corfu to the mainland followed by a midday flight from Aktion, should build in longer gaps than usual or consider overnighting near the departure point.

Recent strike action on Greece s rail network already showed how quickly transport conditions can change, and how important it is to keep alternatives in mind. Travelers who need to cross the country by train after landing in Athens or Thessaloniki should be aware that weather affected lines in Epirus and Western Macedonia may still be fragile even once this particular storm system moves on.

Weather Pattern And Timeline

The Hellenic National Meteorological Service, often shortened to EMY or HNMS, issued an emergency bulletin on November 20 that flagged another deterioration in weather for northwestern Greece, with heavy rain and thunderstorms forecast on November 21 for the Ionian Islands, including Corfu, Paxos, Lefkada, Kefalonia and Ithaca, as well as Aetolia Acarnania and Epirus. That bulletin and follow up coverage state that the most intense phenomena should gradually ease from late Friday night into Saturday November 22, although rivers and slopes will remain stressed after several days of rain.

Other outlets describe this as part of a broader sequence of severe autumn and early winter storms that have repeatedly flooded parts of Western Greece, suggesting that even after the current orange level warning period ends, further systems could follow. For travel planning, that means that the risk is not only tied to a single date, but to the cumulative effect of saturated ground and already weakened infrastructure.

Practical Advice For Travelers

In the short term, travelers with arrivals into Corfu or Epirus between November 21 and 24 should contact hotels, villas or tour operators to ask whether local roads are affected and which routes they recommend from the airport or ferry port. Many properties will already know which junctions flood first and which hillside roads are prone to slides, and they can often suggest a safer route that adds only twenty or thirty minutes.

Self drive visitors should avoid night time drives on unfamiliar mountain roads, especially between small villages where rockfalls have been reported. It is safer to plan long transfers in daylight and to keep to main highways and primary coastal roads even if a navigation app suggests a slightly shorter back road route. If your itinerary combines Corfu with Epirus, consider spending an extra night in Corfu town, Ioannina or Preveza and using those hubs as bases, rather than committing to tight same day hops between remote accommodations.

For those already on the road, the usual flood safety rules apply. Drivers should never attempt to cross water that looks deeper than a few centimeters or is moving quickly, even if local vehicles appear to be trying, since road surfaces may be damaged or missing under muddy water. Walkers should give unstable slopes and drainage channels a wide berth, particularly near villages like Karousades where fresh landslides have been documented in the last day.

Travelers who rely on mobile data should ensure roaming is active and that emergency alerts from the 112 system can reach their phones, especially in Epirus and Western Macedonia, where authorities have used the system repeatedly this week. Keeping copies of key documents, offline maps and a simple go bag with warm clothing, a flashlight and basic medication is sensible when storms are ongoing and power cuts remain possible.

Finally, keep monitoring official sources rather than relying only on social media videos. EMY, the Civil Protection portal and local municipalities will update warnings and road closure information as conditions evolve, and those updates will determine when transfers can return to normal. For broader planning context, Adept Traveler s recent coverage of Greece wide transport issues, including the Greece rail strike that knocked out trains and the Athens airport link, offers a useful reminder that flexibility and extra buffer time are now essential for travel in Greece as winter weather and labor actions overlap.