Submerged village resurfaces in Artvin after water level plunges in dam

ARTVİN

A village in the Black Sea province of Artvin that submerged five years ago has reemerged after water level in the nearby Deriner Dam plunged as much as 37 meters.

Water from the Deriner Dam, Turkey’s highest dam built on the Çoruh River, had completely flooded the Narlı village in the Yusufeli province five years ago.

Some of the houses, a school and a mosque in the village, consumed by the dam reservoir in 2012 when the Deriner Dam opened, have now become visible again as the water level in the dam declined considerably due to poor rainfall.

Old inhabitants of the village rushed to the dam site to catch a glimpse of their old habitat, where many of them got emotional by the scene. They said the view of the resurfaced village reminded them of the good old days. Some motorists also pulled over their vehicles to watch the resurfaced village.

With its height of 249 meters from the foundation, the Deriner Dam is the sixth highest dam in the world in its category.

The foundations of the dam and the hydropower plant were laid in 1988. The project was initially planned to be completed in 2005 but it actually took 24 years for the dam and the hydropower plant to go into service. The dam cost some $1.4 billion.