ATHENS – Greece’s Supreme Court wants an investigation into where money earmarked for anti-flood measures went after a massive storm and deadly flooding showed works were done shoddily or not done at all.

In 2020 the New Democracy government allocated 240 million euros ($257.41 million) in plans to prepare regions for storms but farmers and others in Thessaly, where most of the damage occurred, said little to nothing was done.

It wasn’t said where the money went or if embezzlement or theft was suspected but the floods caused some 2.5 billion euros ($2.68 billion) in damage – 10 times the cost of preventing or limiting it.

It has also led the government to put up partial subsidies – as it did after wildfires also seen largely caused by state and municipality failures to clear woodlands or dried materials or do preventive measures against blazes.

The top court’s chief prosecutor, Georgia Adeilini, wants to find out what happened to projects that were promised, some reportedly never carried out, in the wake of the 2020 storm that showed the state was unprepared.

The probe, however, will be mainly directed at regional and local authorities and not at the government, said Kathimerini, the scope of the investigation looking at where the money had gone at lower levels.