diff --git a/app/lib/server_requests/init_state.dart b/app/lib/server_requests/init_state.dart
index 4338c4a2971c8b3873f474ae3f5c0909c3d6ce63..5e11cc66861e0344b136888c025a7e6d0ea9c416 100644
--- a/app/lib/server_requests/init_state.dart
+++ b/app/lib/server_requests/init_state.dart
@@ -27,7 +27,6 @@ Future<void> initialiseState() async {
       List<Measurement> measurements = fetchResult.measurements;
       selectedMarkerList = measurements;
 
-      lakeSearchOptions = ["Mjøsa"];
     } else { // Try to fetch measurement data from server
       markerListFuture = fetchMeasurements().then((fetchResult) {
         List<Measurement> measurements = fetchResult.measurements;
@@ -84,6 +83,6 @@ Future<void> initSearchOptions() async {
       }
     }
   } catch (e) {
-    lakeSearchOptions = ["Mjøsa"]; // Init default list
+    print("Failed to fetch lake names: $e");
   }
 }
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/server/main.py b/server/main.py
index 3db590fd55f9b88defa2c15f8164681f99e71a49..d0570e78c7d8ea734a40ab42090e9d748b2a028c 100644
--- a/server/main.py
+++ b/server/main.py
@@ -43,17 +43,23 @@ class IceHTTP(BaseHTTPRequestHandler):
 
             self.wfile.write(b"Root path hit!")
         elif self.path == '/get_lake_names':
-            with open(LAKE_RELATIONS_PATH + 'all_lake_names.json', 'r') as file:
-                lake_names = json.load(file)
+            try:
+                with open(LAKE_RELATIONS_PATH + 'all_lake_names.json', 'r') as file:
+                    lake_names = json.load(file)
 
-            # Disable ensure_ascii to keep 'ø'
-            json_data = json.dumps(lake_names, ensure_ascii=False)
+                # Disable ensure_ascii to keep 'ø'
+                json_data = json.dumps(lake_names, ensure_ascii=False)
 
-            self.send_response(200)
-            self.send_header('Content-type', 'application/json')
-            self.end_headers()
+                self.send_response(200)
+                self.send_header('Content-type', 'application/json')
+                self.end_headers()
 
-            self.wfile.write(json_data.encode('iso-8859-1'))  # Special character encoding
+                self.wfile.write(json_data.encode('iso-8859-1'))  # Special character encoding
+            except Exception as e:
+                print(f"Failed to fetch lake list: {e}")
+                self.send_response(500)
+                self.send_header('Content-type', 'application/json')
+                self.end_headers()
         elif self.path.startswith('/update_map'):  # NB: should be POST?
             parsed_path = urlparse(self.path)
             query_params = parse_qs(parsed_path.query)
diff --git a/server/map_handler/lake_relations/all_lake_names.json b/server/map_handler/lake_relations/all_lake_names.json
index 468b1fe7c028067f627bc2aef8c6b1e14e88ca74..fc2472160666eb0b344f18a28c987d99fd4ef756 100644
--- a/server/map_handler/lake_relations/all_lake_names.json
+++ b/server/map_handler/lake_relations/all_lake_names.json
@@ -7,6 +7,5 @@
   "Fjellsj\u00c3\u00b8en",
   "Gjende",
   "Gjersj\u00c3\u00b8en",
-  "skumsj\u00f8en",
-  "skumsj\u00f8en"
+  "Skumsj\u00c3\u00b8en"
 ]
\ No newline at end of file