EBN- Sesklo, a village of about 800 residents near the port city of Volos, and home to one of Europe’s oldest prehistoric settlements, has survived natural disasters through the centuries.
Storm Elias flooded several houses and infrastructure in September. That finished off what was left weeks earlier by Storm Daniel, Greece’s most intense on record. A July wildfire scorched large agricultural lands.
Fierce storms and floods have become more frequent in recent years. Meanwhile, rising temperatures make summers hotter and drier, creating tinder-box conditions for wildfires.
Muddy roads and household furniture, stacked up outside to dry, in villages across the central mainland region of Thessaly are a constant reminder of the steps Greece needs to take as it adapts to climate change and seeks to mitigate the effects of such freak weather events.
But its oldest residents, Tsiamitas says, have never experienced anything like this year’s devastation.
“It’s the first time that our village has been tested so much,” said Tsiamitas, local community leader. “We have elderly people sitting at the village square who are 95 years old. They have never experienced such a thing before.”
The wildfire that broke out in July was burning uncontrolled for at least two days.
Sesklo residents were evacuated in time but the flames, fanned by strong winds, burned through farmland and groves, destroying approximately 70 percent of the village’s almond and olive oil production, said Tsiamitas.
