By Alexia Saoulli
TORRENTIAL rain lashed down in Nicosia yesterday afternoon in a freak spring storm, flooding homes, shops, churches and streets.
At around 2pm dark thunderclouds formed over the capital before the heavens opened and hailstones and rain pummelled the city centre and surrounding area for an hour and a half.
People caught outside in the downpour were quickly drenched to the bone and cars were forced to pull over, as visibility was reduced and the risk of accidents high. Meanwhile police issued warnings cautioning motorists to drive carefully.
Power cuts were also reported in some areas and the fire department said it had received around 500 emergency calls.
Major streets within the city, among them Dighenis Akritas and Makarios Avenue, were quickly flooded. Police said the Pera Chorio-Nicosia strip of the Nicosia-Limassol highway was flooded also.
“You couldn’t see the street or pavement,” said one witness, who had been in a restaurant just off Dighenis Akritas in Nicosia.
“There was at least 50 centimetres of water in the road and several places were flooded. (And) as I passed Zorpas bakery I could see its employees sweeping out water, which had come into the shop.”
There were also traffic jams and some cars that had been parked on the side of the road were swept away by the water, while several other drivers were reported to be stuck in their cars.
The basements of a number of apartment buildings were also flooded, damaging some vehicles, and the fire department had to call in off-duty staff and personnel from Larnaca and Limassol to deal with the huge number of emergency calls.
The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.
