Flooding struck central Greece on Wednesday for the second time this month, just weeks after Storm Daniel left 17 people dead and caused massive damage.

Hundreds of people were rescued from floods in central Greece overnight and early on Thursday, authorities said, as a new storm dumped several months-worth of rain in less than a day just weeks after floods killed 17 people in the southern European country.

The Greek fire service said it had assisted over 250 people in the region surrounding the city of Volos, where authorities declared a curfew Wednesday as a storm named Elias made landfall, swiftly turning streets into rivers. 

Much of Volos, which has a population of almost 140,000 people, was without electricity and sections of the local hospital flooded, though the facility remained operational. At least eight villages outside the city have been evacuated. 

Storm Elias also hit the island of Evia, causing flooding and prompting emergency traffic restrictions in the north of the island.

The fire service said it had moved more than 3,000 people to safer locations since Tuesday as the weather deteriorated.

Villages were flooded, roads inundated, and schools forced to close in several municipalities as Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis mobilised state emergency services and military personnel to boost defences in areas.

On Wednesday night, the European Severe Weather Database (ESWD) announced that months-worth of rain had fallen within the preceding 24 hours -- and more is on the way, with the storm expected to continue at least through Thursday with heavy rain, hail, and thunder, according to Greece's meteorological service.

Earlier in September, central Greece was devastated by cataclysmic amounts of rain dumped by Storm Daniel, which left 17 people dead, destroyed crops, and killed tens of thousands of farm animals across a wide area in the heart of Greece's agricultural production.

The port city of Volos in central Thessaly is among those to have been hit hard by both storms. During Daniel, Volos experienced more than 10 times its average September rainfall, while Elias has flooded roads near the port and Greek police have banned traffic circulation in the city as a precaution. 

Agriculture Minister Lefteris Avgenakis said Wednesday that clean-up crews had disposed of over 180,000 dead livestock and poultry, but were still unable to reach over a dozen chicken farms cut off from access roads. He said destroyed crops include cotton, corn, wheat, apples, and kiwis.

EU Agriculture Commissioner Janusz Wojciechowski is scheduled to tour Thessaly on October 5, Avgenakis added Wednesday.