Paros: municipality asks ministries for flood works

The immediate preparation of studies and the carrying out of flood protection and anti-erosion works in the areas of Paros burned in the fire of 28 July 2026 is being requested by the mayor of Paros, Kostas Bizas. According to a report by Naxos Times, the relevant document with protocol number 16502 was sent on 17 August 2026 to the Ministry of Environment and Energy, the Ministry of Infrastructure, Transport and Networks, and to the Decentralised Administration of the Aegean. The same request was also forwarded to the members of parliament for the Cyclades, with a request that they intervene with the competent ministers so that the procedures are speeded up. The municipality cites the coming winter period as the reason that makes the matter urgent.

The request rests on a well-known phenomenon: after a fire, the ground loses the plant cover that holds back water and soil, with the result that rain runs off much faster towards lower ground. That increases the risk of flooding in settlements and on roads, while at the same time the fertile surface layer is washed away, which hampers the regeneration of vegetation. Anti-erosion works, such as log barriers, brushwood fencing and small dams in streams, are aimed precisely at slowing the run-off and holding back sediment. Such works only make sense if they are completed before the first heavy rains of the autumn, which explains the urgency of the request. Experience from previous fires in Greece shows that erosion is at its most intense during the first two winters after the event, before herbaceous vegetation has time to recover.

For Paros, an island with a sharp relief and dense building near the coast, the issue has an immediate practical dimension. The burned areas lie on slopes from which water heads towards settlements, farmland and the road network, while the run-off ends up in the sea, with possible effects on bathing water quality as well. The municipality has repeatedly raised issues of infrastructure and environmental management on the island, as in the case of the protest over the landfill, while the population of Paros multiplies in the summer months, increasing the pressure on networks and services.

The next step depends on the response of the ministries and of the Decentralised Administration of the Aegean, which are being asked to commission and fund the relevant studies. No timetable has been announced, nor a budget or funding source for the works the municipality is requesting. Nor has it been made known whether the burned areas have already been mapped and whether an on-site inspection by the competent forestry services has taken place, an element that usually precedes the preparation of anti-erosion studies. Until there is an official reply, the request remains pending, while the time until the start of the rainy season is running short. Paros was hit by the fire of 28 July at a period of high tourist traffic, something that had also placed a burden on the island’s civil protection services.