TORRENTIAL rainfall and strong winds yesterday caused flooding across the island, with the fire brigade receiving dozens of phone calls to pump out water from people’s homes and basements and to rescue drivers whose vehicles were trapped.
The weather caused a five-car pile up in the tunnel on the Limassol-Paphos motorway. The accident brought the traffic in one lane to a halt and one man, Antonis Kyriacou, was injured in the pile up. The 60-year-old was taken to Limassol General Hospital, where he was treated for a cracked neck.
Most of the problems were seen in Paphos. The strong winds caused trees to fall into the road as well as broken branches. The Archimandrita-Mousere road was closed off due to mudslides that had covered the tarmac.
A fireman from Paphos told the Cyprus Mail that they even had to pump out water from the basement of a primary school that was flooded with 5-6 cm of water. “None of the classrooms were flooded, only the basement that contained paper and the photocopy machine. We pumped out the water and left,” the fireman said.
Heavy rainfall and thick fog was noted in Limassol and Larnaca, where water levels rose over one metre, according to the fire brigade. AKEL deputy Kikis Yiangou said he had received calls from people living in the Kamares refugee estate in Larnaca, saying that their homes were leaking and flooded. They complained that this was due not only to the rainfall, but also to the cracked roofs that were built 20 years ago.
Yiangou said residents were in a state of panic, rushing to move their furniture out of the water coming into their homes. He said it was unacceptable that refugee housing roofs had not been repaired.
The area of Kornos and Kalo Chorio in Larnaca were hit by pouring rain, hail and fog leading drivers to stop their vehicles until visibility returned. The riverbed of Archangellos flooded yesterday with water flowing to Livadia, killing five dogs that were trapped in its current.
The vice mayor of Larnaca Alexis Michaelides said it was up to the Public Works Department to tackled the severe problems seen on the roads by dealing with blocked drains.
“It is their responsibility to ensure a better draining system of the gutters and sewage grills. We have the Kamares riverbed, which should be able to contain water from rainfall without flooding occurring. It appears the Public Works Department has not seriously considered the repercussions of their failure properly to drain the gutters, resulting in dirt clogging them up and leading to dangerous floods,” said Michaelides.
He added that some of the gutters leading off the main road near Kamares had been closed in order to complete the Kamares park because of a breakdown in communication between the workmen and Larnaca Municipality. “Now the gutters have been freed of the dirt we do not expect further floods,” said Michaelides.
The Larnaca-Limassol highway also flooded, with police forcing drivers to park their vehicles on the hard shoulder, where they would be safe.
Public Works Department official Lefteris Stylianides yesterday confirmed that roads were flooding because dirt was building up in the gutters.
“The storm came out of nowhere and there was the problem of the dirt from the fields blocking the gutters. The gutters were cleaned in October and we did not expect this sudden rainfall,” said Lefteris.
“We did clean the gutters and after 20 minutes the flooding subsided.”
Asked why floods caused havoc every year in Cyprus, Lefteris said it couldn’t be helped. “There were horrific floods in France too. They are inevitable.”
Strong winds struck the village of Avdimou in the Limassol district and tore a roof off one house.
In the Nicosia district in Latsia, underground warehouses belonging to the Ministry of Education were also flooded.
Nicosia police also closed off the Dhali-Potamia road as it was completely flooded. Cars were brought to a halt on the highway near Pera Chorio due to the thick fog and pouring rain that made it impossible to drive.
Sleet and rain fell in Troodos and dense fog presented dangers for drivers who were warned by police to avoid the mountainous roads.
The weather also caused power cuts in Pissouri. The EAC said electricians were on standby to solve the problem.
Director of the Meteorological Department Kyriacos Theophilou said weather conditions would improve from today and that the rain was expected to clear over the weekend.
The Meteorological Department said the Kalavasos dam now held 10,387,000 cubic metres of water, Dipotamos held 11,105,000 cubic metres and the Lefkara dam 9,133,000 cubic metres of water.
