Bare slopes and dead stormwater: anatomy of a disaster in Attica

Chaos survived last night Attica. A series of devastating floods in Glyfada, Vari, Voula, Rafina and Nea Makri became a direct consequence of many years of fires, the lack of systemic real reforestation programs and chronic failure of flood control.

We’re talking about areas which until recently bordered on forested areas. Today these territories are surrounded bare slopesunable to hold either water or soil. During heavy precipitation the water acts like a battering ram, washing away everything in its path, creating mudflows similar to yesterday’s in Ano Glyfada.

Once again it became obvious that flood control structures are either absent or exist “on paper”. Where they exist, their capacity turned out to be disproportionate real volumes of water. There is no systemic protection – there are only fragmented and cosmetic solutions.

An additional factor was untreated stormwater infrastructure. Drains and drains run by municipalities were once again clogged. This is not an exception or a surprise – it is a repeating scenario.

The consequences were tragic: people diedcars, residential buildings, and infrastructure were destroyed or damaged. The damage to thousands of families is irreversible.

The question is often asked whether municipalities, the region and the state were previously better prepared for such phenomena. No. The only difference is that there used to be more forest around citiesespecially in areas adjacent to mountains, which constrained surface runoff.

Moschato – an illustrative example of a different nature. The area is not adjacent to mountain ranges, but is built along artificial channel of the Ilissos Rivercreated at the beginning of the 20th century, during Eleftherios Venizelos. Under normal conditions the river is almost dry, but under extreme rainfall conditions it inevitably overflows its banks.

This again raises the question of the state of the two main waterways of Athens – Kifisos and Ilisos. Yes, clearing work has begun, but with a delay of decadesand their effect is still limited.

IN Rafina the situation is aggravated by the failure of the regulatory project Megali rema (Big Creek). The project formally exists, but in fact frozen.

IN January 2026 was officially announced two-year deferment completion of work – by the end of 2027 – under the pretext of technical difficulties, archaeological finds and unresolved issues of land alienation.

However nature doesn’t wait. Until 2028, the region will experience more than one wave of extreme precipitation. The responsibility lies here not at the municipal, but at the state level.

Today Glyfada, Voula and Vari look like massive destruction zones. Residents record huge volumes of clay and rock sediments that have come down from the slopes.

This clearly demonstrates the key problem: the mountains around Athens no longer hold the soil. Without tree root systems, the ground turns into a mudslide at the first heavy rain.

Formally, the country has National reforestation planproviding for landing 30 million trees by 2030. However, current dynamics show that Cities no longer have time to wait until 2030 (and apparently it won’t. Editor’s note).

If every rainstorm turns residential areas into disaster zones, then any strategic plans will lose their meaning.

All measures that continue to be postponed “for the future” today should have been implemented yesterday.

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