Lost village emerges after 70 years underwater
The village was once home to 900 people, but in 1950 was flooded and never seen again -- until now. Video footage showed locals exploring the remnants of the once-submerged town.
By
Chaffin Mitchell, AccuWeather staff writer &
Adriana Navarro, AccuWeather staff writer
Published May 25, 2021 4:46 PM EDT
After more than 70 years underwater, one of Italy's submerged cities has resurfaced. The lost Italian village of Curon, in northern Italy near the borders with Switzerland and Liechtenstein, recently emerged from under Lake Resia.
A lone church tower rising from the middle of a lake was the only indication that a small city, once home to 900 people who lived in 160 homes, ever existed. The historic steeple inspired a novel titled I'm Staying Here and a Netflix show called Curon.
The 14th-century church has also piqued interest among countless tourists who posted images of the unique sight to social media.
The village was flooded for a hydroelectric plant and part of the merger of two nearby lakes, Resia and Curon—two of three natural basins in the Resia Pass area of the southern Alps— back in 1950, according to the BBC.
Curon had been part of Austria until 1919, therefore many of the residents were unable to speak Italian and were ill-equipped to fight the plan to unite the lakes. Their homes were eventually submerged for the sake of producing hydroelectric energy.
A church tower rising from the middle of Lake Resia in Italy. (Image via Storyful/Luisa Azzolini)
“All the houses were destroyed, except for the church tower that is always visible,” Luisa Azzolini, a local resident who captured the footage, told Storyful.
In April, the remnants of what was left of the village appeared briefly when the lake was temporarily drained for repair work and maintenance on the reservoir after leaks were discovered.
Photos and videos of the abandoned village showing the ruins have been shared on social media.
Azzolini's footage shows local residents walking around the remains of Curon’s more than 160 homes. Some of the structures date back to the 14th century, according to reports.
There are only a couple more weeks until Curon is resubmerged, as the power company that owns the dam will slowly refill the lake.
The lost village of Curon is not the only city to be claimed by a body of water. Many more natural examples come from the ocean swallowing cities whole, akin to tales of the lost city of Atlantis.
Every few decades or so, the submerged 12th-century Italian village Fabbriche di Careggine in the Lucca province of Tuscany breaches the surface of Lake Vagli. The town could resurface once more in 2021, more than 25 years after it last saw the light of day.
The community structures of the town -- including stone homes, a bridge, the San Teodoro church and a cemetery -- were still mostly preserved, even after being underwater for a long period of time.
Earthquakes seem to be common factors when looking at other submerged cities like Port Royal in Jamaica and Pavlopetri and Olous near Greece. In what is today's Great Britain, places like Ravenser Odd and Dunwich were ravaged by large storms. The latter still has areas that remain above water, though it is not a highly populated town.
The resurfaced town of Fabbriche di Careggine during its emergence in 1994. (Wikimedia Commons/Robyfra1)
Today, the United States is seeing a handful of its coastal cities beginning to sink, including New Orleans, Houston, Miami and Virginia Beach. However, earthquakes aren't the source of these cities' concerns.
A 2016 NASA study found that parts of New Orleans are sinking at a rate of 2 inches per year, and Virginia Beach is experiencing the fastest rate of sea-level rise on the East Coast, according to The Washington Post. Miami's situation isn't much better.
"Miami as we know it today -- there's virtually no scenario under which you can imagine it existing at the end of the century," Jeff Goodell, author of The Water Will Come: Rising Seas, Sinking Cities, and the Remaking of the Civilized World, told Business Insider in a 2018 interview.
In this Sept. 30, 2015, file photo, Louis Fernandez walks along a flooded street in Miami Beach, Fla. The street flooding was in part caused by high tides due to the lunar cycle, according to the National Weather Service. Miami has been referred to as the country's Ground Zero for any climate-related sea-level rise. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)
Groundwater pumping is contributing to the sinking of some of these cities, but civil engineers are also concerned about rising sea waters threatening these cities.
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Civil engineers have been remedying rising sea levels through dams, levies and methods such as pumping the excess water out that the ground isn't able to absorb.
Ali Memari, professor in the department of agriculture, engineering and civil and environmental engineering at Penn State as well as Head Chair of the residential building construction and Director of the Pennsylvania Housing Research Center, told AccuWeather that elements like pavement contribute to the flooding, causing the excess water to overwhelm the drainage system.
Cities like these, Memari said, can fight the rising water -- or learn to live with it with by engineering solutions over time. Fighting the sea levels would mean building sea walls and levees as well as building homes at higher elevations. Living with the rising sea levels could mean engineering cities, or at least the buildings, to float.
Editor's Note: A previous version of this story stated that Port Royal was near Jamaica. Port Royal is a village located in southeastern Jamaica
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News / Travel
Lost village emerges after 70 years underwater
The village was once home to 900 people, but in 1950 was flooded and never seen again -- until now. Video footage showed locals exploring the remnants of the once-submerged town.
By Chaffin Mitchell, AccuWeather staff writer & Adriana Navarro, AccuWeather staff writer
Published May 25, 2021 4:46 PM EDT
After more than 70 years underwater, one of Italy's submerged cities has resurfaced. The lost Italian village of Curon, in northern Italy near the borders with Switzerland and Liechtenstein, recently emerged from under Lake Resia.
A lone church tower rising from the middle of a lake was the only indication that a small city, once home to 900 people who lived in 160 homes, ever existed. The historic steeple inspired a novel titled I'm Staying Here and a Netflix show called Curon.
The 14th-century church has also piqued interest among countless tourists who posted images of the unique sight to social media.
The village was flooded for a hydroelectric plant and part of the merger of two nearby lakes, Resia and Curon—two of three natural basins in the Resia Pass area of the southern Alps— back in 1950, according to the BBC.
Curon had been part of Austria until 1919, therefore many of the residents were unable to speak Italian and were ill-equipped to fight the plan to unite the lakes. Their homes were eventually submerged for the sake of producing hydroelectric energy.
A church tower rising from the middle of Lake Resia in Italy. (Image via Storyful/Luisa Azzolini)
“All the houses were destroyed, except for the church tower that is always visible,” Luisa Azzolini, a local resident who captured the footage, told Storyful.
In April, the remnants of what was left of the village appeared briefly when the lake was temporarily drained for repair work and maintenance on the reservoir after leaks were discovered.
Photos and videos of the abandoned village showing the ruins have been shared on social media.
Azzolini's footage shows local residents walking around the remains of Curon’s more than 160 homes. Some of the structures date back to the 14th century, according to reports.
There are only a couple more weeks until Curon is resubmerged, as the power company that owns the dam will slowly refill the lake.
The lost village of Curon is not the only city to be claimed by a body of water. Many more natural examples come from the ocean swallowing cities whole, akin to tales of the lost city of Atlantis.
Every few decades or so, the submerged 12th-century Italian village Fabbriche di Careggine in the Lucca province of Tuscany breaches the surface of Lake Vagli. The town could resurface once more in 2021, more than 25 years after it last saw the light of day.
The community structures of the town -- including stone homes, a bridge, the San Teodoro church and a cemetery -- were still mostly preserved, even after being underwater for a long period of time.
Earthquakes seem to be common factors when looking at other submerged cities like Port Royal in Jamaica and Pavlopetri and Olous near Greece. In what is today's Great Britain, places like Ravenser Odd and Dunwich were ravaged by large storms. The latter still has areas that remain above water, though it is not a highly populated town.
The resurfaced town of Fabbriche di Careggine during its emergence in 1994. (Wikimedia Commons/Robyfra1)
Today, the United States is seeing a handful of its coastal cities beginning to sink, including New Orleans, Houston, Miami and Virginia Beach. However, earthquakes aren't the source of these cities' concerns.
A 2016 NASA study found that parts of New Orleans are sinking at a rate of 2 inches per year, and Virginia Beach is experiencing the fastest rate of sea-level rise on the East Coast, according to The Washington Post. Miami's situation isn't much better.
"Miami as we know it today -- there's virtually no scenario under which you can imagine it existing at the end of the century," Jeff Goodell, author of The Water Will Come: Rising Seas, Sinking Cities, and the Remaking of the Civilized World, told Business Insider in a 2018 interview.
In this Sept. 30, 2015, file photo, Louis Fernandez walks along a flooded street in Miami Beach, Fla. The street flooding was in part caused by high tides due to the lunar cycle, according to the National Weather Service. Miami has been referred to as the country's Ground Zero for any climate-related sea-level rise. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)
Groundwater pumping is contributing to the sinking of some of these cities, but civil engineers are also concerned about rising sea waters threatening these cities.
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Civil engineers have been remedying rising sea levels through dams, levies and methods such as pumping the excess water out that the ground isn't able to absorb.
Ali Memari, professor in the department of agriculture, engineering and civil and environmental engineering at Penn State as well as Head Chair of the residential building construction and Director of the Pennsylvania Housing Research Center, told AccuWeather that elements like pavement contribute to the flooding, causing the excess water to overwhelm the drainage system.
Cities like these, Memari said, can fight the rising water -- or learn to live with it with by engineering solutions over time. Fighting the sea levels would mean building sea walls and levees as well as building homes at higher elevations. Living with the rising sea levels could mean engineering cities, or at least the buildings, to float.
Editor's Note: A previous version of this story stated that Port Royal was near Jamaica. Port Royal is a village located in southeastern Jamaica
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Keep checking Want next-level safety, ad-free? Unlock advanced, hyperlocal severe weather alerts when you subscribe to Premium+ on the AccuWeather app. AccuWeather Alerts™ are prompted by our expert meteorologists who monitor and analyze dangerous weather risks 24/7 to keep you and your family safer.back on AccuWeather.com and stay tuned to the AccuWeather Network on DirecTV, Frontier, Spectrum, FuboTV, Philo, and Verizon Fios.
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