It is expected to be completed by the end of February the holistic “armoring” plan of the Thessalian plain from the -future- weather phenomena, which will be prepared by a team of experts from the Netherlands, in collaboration with the local agencies of the region.

The said study, as said by the Greek managing director of the company HVA International, Miltiadis Gouzouris focuses “on the agricultural part and its flood protection sector. We do not have so much to do with urban areas, villages, cities, etc. We mainly deal with the management of water that comes either from rainwater, or from rivers, which end up in the Thessalian plain, and with the economic activities of area, such as arable land, livestock units and industries’.

In the last period of time, the team of experts in collaboration with the local agencies have carried out site visits mapping many of the areas of the Thessalian plain. The experts have noted several key points and characteristics of the areas, such as the soil, vegetation and rocks, the economic activity at any given time, the rivers and their microclimate, in a way that the volume of water that can receive can be calculated each area.

Also, according to Mr. Gozouris, the teams during their visits to the area had the opportunity to see closely the places where the dikes and dams gave way and to study the causes that caused these damages, seeking to include new practices in the design which will exclude the repetition of the same situation in the future.

“Right now we have collected a lot of data from key points in the Thessalian plain and are “running” various rain scenarios. If it will rain in the area of ​​Kalambaka what will this mean? These scenarios show us in which direction the water will flow and which areas are at risk of flooding. All this is extremely useful” notes Mr. Gouzouris as, as he explains, “it will be possible to propose the creation of the appropriate anti-flooding project, after first taking into account the morphology of the soil, the particularities of the area, etc.”

There could be, for example, areas that will flood and farmers will receive compensation. In this study, as the managing director of the company mentioned in APE-MPE, a chapter is included in which scenarios are examined where there are areas that will act as “zones controlled flood” in case of heavy rainfall that creates excessive amounts of water in relation to the possibilities of channeling these waters. These zones, where possible, should be located in places where there will be no houses, livestock units, factories, etc.

“If there are again heavy rains that may cause flooding, it will be planned to activate areas that will only have crops, where the excess water will be channeled, so that the main water system is relieved and the runoff of the water takes place at a controlled rate he pointed out.

Farmers who will cultivate the said lands will be able to be informed in time to move their machines from there to a safer place.

There may also be a provision for farmers in these controlled flood zones to receive compensation from the state for the damages they have suffered. “Each year there will be a fund in the state budget to compensate these farmers” he said and added “if one year the fund is not used it will be able to be transferred to the next and so on”, he said.

However, as Mr. Gouzouris mentioned, “the cost of implementing the plan has not yet been calculated since the whole process is ongoing. “The cost will be different if the plan mainly includes flood zones and another if the need arises to build more dams or reservoirs.”

The lack of water and not the floods is the main problem of Thessaly

At the same time, the managing director of the company underlines that we may all have been focusing on the flooding phenomenon of September, but the biggest problem facing Thessaly is the lack of water.

“In the area we have water-bearing crops and so the farmers are forced to drill wells that reach up to 300 meters deep, thus increasing the cost of the crops,” he said.

In the plan being prepared there will likely be proposals where some of the flood zones are used as water reservoirs for irrigation purposes.

“We’re looking at whether in an area that will be designated as a flood zone, it will be in the best interest of crops to keep it that way. This will depend, among other things, on whether the compensations that the farmers will have to receive for their fields will compensate for the production and also the costs that each measure will involve,” he said.

Animal Capital

The losses suffered by the livestock breeders of Thessaly were serious as more than 140,000 animals were lost in the floods.

“What we are looking at is the entire value chain. For example, a farmer has animals, produces milk and gives it to the dairy industry, which in turn channels it to the market. Certainly one would say that what we need to do is to give animals back to the farmers to start producing. But is it so?’ Mr. Gouzouris wonders.

And he adds: “This is not always the best solution. Imagine farmers having animals, producing milk and having nowhere to give it if the local dairies are damaged and unable to process the milk, as many such processing units were severely damaged by the recent floods. In such cases, the breeders will be faced with two problems: firstly, they will not be able to sell their milk and secondly, all the animals they have will need daily food, which has a high cost.” “That’s why careful planning is needed,” he concludes.

Training programs-protection plans

Finally, speaking to the Athenian-Macedonian News Agency, he notes that in addition to preventive measures for animals, fields, machinery, etc., there should also be planning for people.

“We want to do training programs to deal with all these phenomena for the residents of the areas. If e.g. we have a flood in Karditsa or the surrounding areas, the residents there should know where they should go to be safe.”

“Such educational programs should be designed for each region separately, since each place has different characteristics from the other, due to the morphology of each region” he concluded.