Flooded Greek lake a warning to European farmers battling climate change

An irrigation hose reel is partially submerged by floodwater, following the extreme flooding of last September, near the village of Stefanovikeio, Greece, February 17, 2024. REUTERS/Alkis Konstantinidis

KANALIA, Greece (Reuters) - Sitting in a small motorboat, farmer Babis Evangelinos glides over land he once cultivated on the Thessaly plain in central Greece, the nearby trunks of his fruitless almond trees submerged by floodwater.

His small plot, near Lake Karla, is among tens of thousands of acres of cotton fields, almond trees and grazing lands that were wiped out by unprecedented flooding last year in one of Greece's key breadbaskets.