As wildfires sweep through Greece, resident returns home to find it 'all gone, totally gone'

LONDON -- As wildfire flames crept toward Zena Katsaros' home in Kiotari, a village in Rhodes, on Friday, she fled with her bathing suit and few other items.

She slept on the beach that first night, surrounded by about 200 other people who had also left their houses, she said.

"It was all like a nightmare, like a war zone," Katsaros told ABC News.

On Monday, as she stood looking at the rubble of what was once her beach house, she could no longer step inside. The roof was too hot to get close and all that was left standing was the bathroom.

"It's all gone, totally gone," she said.

Katsaros is one of thousands of people in Rhodes -- and others throughout Greece -- who've fled their homes as wildfires have spread around the country since early last week.

The most serious fires in the county on Tuesday were burning on Rhodes and Corfu, the Greek Fire Service said in a statement. The rest of the country remained on "high alert" for Wednesday, when high temperatures were again expected, the service said. Southern Europe has been in the grip of a searing heat wave.