Villa Epecuén 3.35

Villa Epecuén was a tourist village in Buenos Aires Province, Argentina. It flooded in 1985 and was abandoned. Its ruins are on the eastern shore of the Laguna Epecuén, about north of the city of Carhué.Developed in the early 1920s, Epecuén was accessible from Buenos Aires by train. The Sarmiento Railway line served the Villa Epecuén station, while the Midland Railway and the Buenos Aires Great Southern Railway carried passengers to nearby Carhué station.Tourism was well developed in Epecuén, as vacationers from Buenos Aires would seek the therapeutic salty waters of Lago Epecuén. At its height, Villa Epecuén could accommodate at least 5,000 visitors.On 6 November 1985 a seiche, caused by a rare weather pattern, broke first a nearby dam, then the dyke protecting the village; the water rose progressively, reaching a peak of. The village became uninhabitable, and was never rebuilt.At the time there were up to 280 businesses in Epecuén, including lodges, guesthouses, hotels, and businesses that 25,000 tourists visited between November and March, from the 1950s to the 1970s.The town reached a population of 1,500 inhabitants at its peak. The town now has a sole resident, Pablo Novak, born in 1930, who returned to his home in 2009 when the waters receded after covering the town for 25 years.Pablo's Villa, a 2013 documentary, chronicles the life of the town and of Pablo Novak.