The ruins of a Greek village that lay submerged for decades have re-appeared after record temperatures caused a major reservoir to partially dry up.
Residents of the village of Kallio were forced to evacuate their homes more than 40 years ago to make way for the Mornos dam in southern Greece, which supplies water to the capital, Athens.
However, drought conditions in recent months caused the reservoir’s water levels to drop dramatically – revealing what remained of several homes and a school.
It is only the second time since Kallio was abandoned that the village has been seen, according to a former resident. The first time was in the 1990s during another period of drought.
“You see the first floor that remains of my father-in-law’s two-storey house… and next to it you can see what’s left of my cousins’ house,” Yorgos Iosifidis, a 60-year-old pensioner who lived in Kallio as a young man, told the AFP news agency.
The village was made up of 80-or-so houses, a church and a school.
AFP“If it doesn’t rain soon, the level will drop further and the problem will be more acute than it was then,” said Mr Iosifidis.
Greece experienced its hottest June and July on record this year and state water operator EYDAP said water levels at the Mornos dam were down by 30%.
Other reservoirs supplying water to the Attica region, which includes Athens, have also recorded a significant drop in water levels.
With reservoir levels down, the Greek authorities have called on the 3.7 million people living in the region not to waste water.
Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis warned this week that Greece needs to do more to protect water resources.
“We don’t have the luxury to waste water…at a time when we know with certainty that we will have less,” he said.
AFP
