Once-submerged church exposed as Cyprus faces once-in-a-century drought

Cyprus is experiencing a once-in-a-century drought that has pushed dam levels to 13.7% capacity with no prospect of recovery before summer, a senior water official has warned.

The island’s reservoirs held just 39.925 million cubic metres of water on 9 February, half the 26% capacity recorded the same period last year, when officials were already expressing concern about low levels.

Time has run out for improvement. “We’re already in mid-February and historically from March onwards no water enters the dams,” Water Development Department official Marios Hadjikostis told Philenews.

“It happens once in a hundred years,” he said. “We’re not going to get quantities from now on that will allow us to exceed last year’s.”

The severity is starkest at Kouris, the island’s largest dam, where the Church of Saint Nicholas once lay submerged beneath the waters but now stands fully exposed.

Kouris has dropped to 12.17% capacity with just 14.001 million cubic metres against its 115 million cubic metre capacity, down from 21.67% last year. The dam received only 0.255 million cubic metres over the past three days and just 3.275 million cubic metres since 1 October.

“Our reserves are very low,” Hadjikostis said. “Unfortunately we don’t have last year’s level and we won’t reach it this year – it’s unlikely.”

He noted that Kouris had already dropped to 9% in October, though such low levels have occurred during previous droughts.

The pattern repeats across the island’s major reservoirs. Asprokremmos has fallen to 12.46% from 27.85% last year, Evretou to 17.88% from 25.13%, and Kannaviou to 16.23% from 28.66%.

The drought followed the worst November in a decade, with just 0.200 million cubic metres flowing into dams, and the weakest December in eight years at 1.903 million cubic metres.