AS IS THE case every year, thunderous rainstorms mark the beginning of a hot and sizzling summer across the island, bringing along floods and power cuts. But why can’t the island’s major towns and cities cope with the sudden downpour of rain?
The latest outbursts this week submerged large areas of the island from coast to coast. In Paphos, the international airport was closed off for an hour while in Nicosia and Larnaca, fire and police services were bombarded with calls, ranging from overflowing rivers to cars stalled in flooded roads.
In Nicosia, the areas of Aglandja, Strovolos and Archangelos were plunged into chaos with vehicles stuck in streets turned into rivers, and houses and shops overwhelmed by gushing water. In the Larnaca district, the Kalo Chorio-Larnaca road was simply submerged by rain.
Maria Evangelou is a 61-year-old shop owner in Aglandja and says that every year she braces herself ahead of the storms. She blamed the Municipalities’ inability to deal with rain storms.
“Every year, they say they will clean out the drains so the rain can go straight into the sewers and every year we have flooding in the area. I cannot understand why they don’t just prepare themselves properly and send some people to clean out all the cans and dirt blocking the drains. This year my shop did get a little flooded, but thankfully it was not as bas as last year. Last year, the rain ruined my tiles and I had to pay myself to get them replaced.”
Larnaca businessman Kyriakos Kyriakou is also angry at the Municipality, saying they should prioritise better and not only think about decorating the town for tourists.
“I cannot understand the way the Larnaca Municipality is thinking. Instead of ensuring that the roads are designed better so rain water cannot settle and flood the streets, they insist on spending thousands and thousands just so they can decorate the town and the hotel owners can get fatter off the profits.
“Perhaps what this town needs is people in charge who actually care about the welfare of the townspeople because it is not as if they don’t know that we get rain storms around this time of year. There is only so much that the police and fire services can do about the problem.”
The Chairman of the Cyprus Scientific and Technical Chamber (????) Themos Demetriou told the Cyprus Mail that flooding on the island was the result of a series of problems rather than one main problem.
“In Cyprus, we have problems like poor design of urban areas, which doesn’t allow proper drainage, buildings that are not designed to withstand heavy rainfall and drainage and sewage systems which are not properly handled. All these elements contribute to the flooding problems and there is not one simple answer to the problem like some people are shouting.”
He added that the job of keeping Cyprus “flood-free” was a duty for everyone and not just the government and the municipalities.
“You cannot just blame the government or the municipalities because as civilians we too are to blame by not properly disposing of our rubbish. Litter in the streets, rubbish like paper and cans can block up drainage systems and that is also a major cause for all the flooding.”
So what can be done to make sure this kind of mass flooding doesn’t happen again or get worse if the island endures heavier rainstorms in the future?
“The government needs to take this matter far more seriously and not just attempt to tackle the problem only when it arises. An action plan needs to be drawn up in advance and it is my estimation that to make this plan work and fix all the problems from to flooding, it would take a good few years.”
A few years may not be enough, however, with the Head of the Meteorological Centre Kyriacos Theophilou warning that heavy storms were again expected in the upcoming days and throughout the weekend. Until then, the public will just have to brace themselves as the storm clouds gather.