HEAVY rains fell over much of the island overnight on Sunday causing problems mainly for drivers especially in Larnaca yesterday.
Certain roads were deemed by police to be dangerous due to flooding such as the entrance to the Nicosia highway at the Latsia weighing station.
Also due to snowfall on Troodos on Sunday night police advised that only vehicles with wheel chains, and four-wheel drives should use mountain roads.
Larnaca suffered several road closures mainly along Mitropoleos Kitiou, Demetraki Dianellou and Ellados street in Aradippou.
By yesterday morning with the assistance of the Fire Department two avenues roads were cleared of floodwaters, and opened to the public during the morning rush hour.
A more serious problem occurred along Piale Pasha, just past the seafront fort where the sheer magnitude and force of the water caused the asphalt to give way, creating a large hole in which a trucj became stuck.
The truck was freed after several hours. No one was injured. Larnaca accumulated around 15.4 mm of rainfall overnight, the met office said.
Despite the mayhem, according to Fire Department spokesman Leonidas Leonidou, they received only five calls in total from members of the public seeking assistance – four from Larnaca and one from Limassol, which mainly involved towing cars from flooded roads.
“In terms of problems it’s been quite quiet,” said Leonidou.
Other major towns and areas, including Paphos, Famagusta and Limassol reported no problems whatsoever, with the rain going unnoticed in many areas.
The heaviest rainfall between Sunday and Monday was recorded in Limassol with 44mm and the least amount of rainfall was in Polis with 14mm. The island so far this month has only received 48 per cent of its normal average rainfall.
With the island’s reservoirs being only just over half full – as last year was a good rain year, Sophocles Aletraris, the principal engineer at the Water Development Department was optimistic yesterday as rain fell all over the island, giving it more a chance to flow into the reservoirs.
Up until yesterday inflow to the reservoirs had been at its lowest level since 2005.
According to Aletraris if the rain falls inland and on the more mountainous regions it has a better chance of running down into the reservoirs, especially the bigger ones, such as Kouris, situated north of Limassol.
The rain is not set to last though according to meteorological official Marios Theophilou, who reported that the rain would start to ease off today, with temperatures increasing slightly but still remaining within the norms for the season. Temperatures are set to reach around 15 degrees inland and 17 degrees on the coast.
