After the reservoir was built, the Spanish village of El Castillo disappeared. It has been rediscovered by the families.
In a national tragedy, the village of Aceredo was flooded in 1992 when a Portuguese hydroelectric plant closed its floodgates, causing the river Limea to flood the lands and buildings in the surrounding area.
But in a rare occurrence, stunning pictures from the area on Monday show how low water levels in the Lindoso reservoir have revealed the skeletal remains of what were once the homes, farmhouses and granaries owned and operated by the people of Aceredo before they were forced to give up their land.
While many walls in the buildings are falling away and window frames have been left empty over time, there is still some structure that remains.
Several of the 70 stone- and wood-constructed houses in the village are still standing. While many of them have been washed away or caved in, some of their roofs survived decades of submersion.
Additionally, the remains of stone walls that marked farmland have been found. Old roads and trails that once ran through the village where 120 lived were also discovered.

The Lindoso reservoir hydroelectric station near Lobios in Ourense, northern Spain shows the usually submerged remains of Aceredo. It is located at the low water level.

Aceredo village was submerged in 1992 after a Portuguese hydroelectric station closed its floodgates. The river Limea then flooded the surrounding areas, creating a tragedy for the nation. Today, Aceredo is visible only with low water.

An elderly man strolls in the submerged ruin of Aceredo. This was the result of low water level at the Lindoso reservoir, Ourense, Spain.

Pictured: A rare glimpse of a building from the submerged village of Aceredo is seen poking out from the Lindoso reservoir

Pictured: A map showing the location of the lost village of Aceredo, which was flooded in 1992 when the floodgates of the Alto lindoso dam were closed, forming the Lindoso reservoir
While water was still a problem in some areas, cracked ground could be seen at the bottom. People were also seen looking through wrecked buildings.
Many buildings have water marks visible on their walls. These water marks show the water level over the years. The original paints have been removed.
You will find old vehicles, personal items, as well as other belongings, scattered among the rubble. While metal may have rusted, some other objects, such glass bottles, are still remarkably present on shelves and tables.
Logs, lake debris and rocks also rest on the structure. Many piles show only the remains of once-standing buildings.

Pictured: The wreckage of a rusted old vehicle is seen, perhaps where it was last parked up against a wall of a building before the village of Aceredo was flooded in 1992. The reservoir was built to house the residents of Aceredo, which is now experiencing low water levels.

Half-buried in mud is a barrel with makeshift tables, and a pot and two bottles of wine on the top are shown. The table was submerged in water for three decades, and remains hauntingly in its place.

A truck’s wreck is visible next to the usually submerged remains of Aceredo. These ruins, which were found near Lobios in Ourense, Spain on November 22, 2021, are seen from the Lindoso reservoir hydroelectric station due to low water levels.

Pictured
The tragedy of Aceredo started when an agreement was struck in 1968 between the heads of state from Spain and Portugal – Francisco Franco and António de Oliveira Salazar Salazar respectively – to use their shared border rivers to construct the Lindoso dam.
However, the agreement and the subsequent engineering work had a cost – expropriation land and homes belonging to several villages and their residents in the area.
The Portuguese hydroelectric company EDP started to negotiate with the village residents to get them out. But initially the majority of people living in Aceredo had no interest in leaving their homes.
Some people gave into the pressure and accepted the money offered by the company. Others refused to give in, insisting that they were not under the same intense pressure.
However, as soon as the company had ‘convinced’ 51 percent of the people, a forced expropriation was published and there was no turning back – despite demonstrations, hunger strikes and confrontations with the police.
Aceredo was not the only village that disappeared. Four other villages, O Bao Buscalque and A Reloeira, were also submerged under the dam’s waters. Their residents had to flee their homes in 1992.

Picured: One wall remains from this former Aceredo village building after it was flooded.

Pictured is a drinking fountain which was originally submerged by the reservoir. It still flows, despite being removed from its home in 1992 to make way for the reservoir’s construction.

An agreement was struck in 1968 between the heads of state from Spain and Portugal – Francisco Franco and António de Oliveira Salazar Salazar respectively – to use their shared border rivers to construct the Lindoso dam. The dam shut down its floodgates and inundated the area, despite local resistance.

Pictured: Inside one of the homes of the former village of Aceredo. The walls and fire kiln are visible in good condition. However, the floor is still covered with mud from Lake Bed.

Pictured: The rusted frame of a metal fence is shown, uncovered due to the low water levels of the Lindoso reservoir
The flooding was more severe for residents of higher elevation towns. One case was that the residents of the village had enough time to demolish their church, one by one, in order to rebuild it somewhere else.
But others were not so lucky, with those in towns like Buscalque and O Bao having to swim to safety with nothing but the clothes on their backs, unable to safe their animals which drowned in the rising waters.
It was later discovered that people were lucky to survive, as the EDP did not disconnect power cables, according to Spanish news website Quinemil.
This disaster transformed a beautiful, once idyllic valley into a place full of life with plenty of fishing and agricultural land.

Pictured: A view of the low level of water in the River Lima by the Lindoso reservoir hydroelectric plant on October 27, 2021 in Lobios, Ourense, Spain (file photo). Some of the small villages that were located in this area suffered flooding after the dam’s walls collapsed in 1992.
Aceredo is the village that stands out almost thirty years later. It is visible only on rare occasions, when the water level drops low enough, and it still makes a distinctive statement.
Many of those who lived in the area once were still there. Tourists often visit them to get a glimpse at this unique phenomenon.
Visitors who visit the area will find ruins of long-lost towns, personal items floating in the water, and a fountain still flowing with water.
According to The Guardian, EDP Electricity Company has in the past blamed water level drops on the low rain.