In October 1940, songs dwindled. The war broke out and many of the Hellenic Water Company workers left for the Albanian front. During the Occupation, hunger, disease, and misery ran rampant. Skeletal children came on foot from Boyati and the inhabitants of the settlement gave them a piece of bread, out of their scarce belongings. Young and old men fall down on the street from exhaustion. In an attempt to survive, they sold 4-5 acres of land for a few kilos of flour. According to an oral testimony "They gave all their property for a piece of bread to save the family. An acre of the field for a kilo of flour… .. The black market and thefts were raging". There was a huge difference between the living conditions of the dam workers, who received their monthly payments, and the farmers who were starving. It should be noted that a sort of grape cream (threpsini in greek) was distributed to the children of the settlement while the peasant children were fed only with "a slice of bread each day".