Following the repeated massive landslides in the Kotsyfos Gorge on January 19 and March 13, the inhabitants of the southern part of Rethymno have been enduring an unending struggle for the past month and a half.
Situated twenty-two kilometres south of Rethymno, the three-kilometre Kourtaliotiko Gorge is one of the island’s most breathtaking natural attractions. It starts in Koxare and winds through the majestic Kouroupa mountains (984m) and the 676m Koules of the Xiro Oros range.
The once-thriving tourist districts in the south are still devoid of tourists, isolating residents and businesses around the gorge, even one and a half months after the landslide.
Unfathomable conditions made daily life exceedingly tough for the people of Agios Ioannis and the neighbouring surroundings. Just ten kilometres before the road closure, Locals now must drive almost one hundred kilometres each day to bring their children to school, a drive that took less than ten kilometres before the road closure.
Revitalizing their enterprises and assuring safety against future landslides, outraged citizens frantically demanded the gorge’s reopening. Tourist units, Airbnb, taverns, and gas stations, and with the road closure, tourist arrivals have stopped completely. Hundreds of companies in the canyon’s neighbouring towns saw their “coffers” dry up as the once-popular tourist route came to a standstill, leaving them helpless.
The villages of Sellia and Rodakino suffered the most significant impact from the traffic stoppage. Tourists heading south of Rethymno previously passed through the Kotsyfos Gorge. Now, they traverse the Kourtaliotiko Gorge, bypassing these villages entirely. The scene resembles “ghost” villages, with closed businesses and the few open shops struggling to cope.
When restoration works commence, they will take at least three months to complete. However, Crete has very few companies capable of undertaking such a massive project, which requires a budget of over one million Euros. To add to the citizens’ anxiety, even if work crews started immediately, the end of the quarter would arrive in August, with half the season definitively lost, leaving the business people of the rapidly developing South of Rethymno in constant worry and despair.
