Lake Carla: Seven months after the devastating floods in Thessaly

It was September 2023 when the bad weather “Daniel” caused disaster in Thessaly and Magnesia. Seven months later it has not come back to normal levels and the fields of the surrounding area are still “deep” in the water, while its level has not subsided. Lake Carla had been dried up since 1962, due to the flooding that it then caused in the area and “started” and last September after the devastating causing serious problems again in surrounding rural areas. Some swampy areas around the lake caused the intense presence of insects in the area. The drying of the lake began at the end of August 1962 and was one of the most important projects for the development of Greek agriculture. The main reason why drying was decided at the time was the need to secure more farmland in the region. Some 80,000 acres of arable land were then attributed to the farmers of Thessaly, at a time when Greek agriculture was taking its first steps towards industrialization. In 2010, it was decided to create a reservoir of less than the original area of Carla and fill water so that the lake could be re-established. Today after flooding caused by the bad weather “Daniel” the image now reminds of the original area of the lake, as over 180,000 acres have flooded.