Greek Mornos Lake Shrinks, Remains Of Houses In Mount Mornos Appear Again After Decades

Building in Lake Mornos Greece/PHOTO DOCUMENTATION via Instagram @urbex_treasures

JAKARTA - From below shrinking Lake Mornos in central Greece, the remains of a muddy house have reappeared for nearly 45 years since the village that had stood there disappeared underwater.

A very large man-made lake that supplies water to nearly half of Greece's population has shrunk to its lowest level in decades.

"Day after day, the water is shrinking," said Dimitris Giannopoulos, mayor of Dorida.

The long expanse of cracked soil surrounds the ruins of Kallio's lost village, which was flooded in 1980 to build lakes to meet the capital's water needs.

The brick is located between the piles of shells. Greece's arid Mediterranean climate makes it very vulnerable to the impact of global warming, which exacerbates summer forest fires including fires that hit the outskirts of Athens last month.

Scientists say extreme weather related to climate change is now driving the lake's decline. "This is a sign of danger," said Eethymist Lekkas, professor of disaster management at Athens University.

"We don't know what will happen in the future. If winter doesn't rain, things will be difficult," he said.

Giannopoulos pointed towards Mount Giona towering over the lake, which was once covered in snow but was not covered in snow at all last winter, which is Greece's warmest winter ever recorded.

On the edge of the receding lake, the trees turn yellowish.

"They lack water. This has never happened before," he said.

The wells in the area dried up and the surrounding villages, which did not draw water from the lake, experienced a water supply cut this summer.

The local fire chief said the risk of forest fires increased along with the dryning of forests.

The surface area of the lake has shrunk from about 16.8 square km in August 2022 to just 12.0 square km this year, according to satellite imagery released by the Greek National Observatory.