SEVENTY-FOUR per cent of the average rainfall for February has fallen in the past three days, with 60 millimetres recorded.
Snowfall has also caused problems, with all roads leading to Troodos closed except to vehicles equipped with four-wheel-drive or snow chains. As of yesterday, 50 centimetres of snow was recorded in Troodos Square, which has gradually accumulated since January, the Weather Services said.
Thick fog on higher ground has also made driving conditions treacherous.
On Sunday, a section of the Paphos-Limassol highway shut due to rocks and stones falling onto the carriageway, while numerous other roads across the island have been affected by the bad weather.
Larnaca has been particularly badly hit, with reports of many flooded roads. Fire Services spokeswoman Lisa Kemidji said they have been called out over 75 times nationwide over the past three days to deal with flooded properties and broken down cars, with many businesses unable to open.
“Some roads have debris scattered across them, such as trees blown over by strong winds and equipment from road works,” she said.
Larnaca press reported that Lefkara village was left without electricity after several power-cuts over the weekend, while the airport recorded a staggering 109.2 millimetres of rain.
According to a spokesman at the Meteorological Services, the forecast is for more rain up to lunchtime today, with Wednesday and Thursday seeing clearer weather.
More snow is also forecast for the early part of the week over the mountains.
“The bad weather has been caused by a low-pressure system that has moved in from the Balkans area,” the spokesman told the Mail. “It is travelling in an easterly direction and should pass over the island by Wednesday.”
Temperatures have also been down by a couple of degrees from the seasonal normal, with a maximum of 12 to 13 degrees Celsius recorded.
The senior technician at the Water Development Department, Phedros Roussis, explained that inflow into the dams over the past 48 hours has reached one million cubic metres of water, but total volume is still very low, standing at 21.7 per cent of capacity or 59.3 million cubic metres. “Compare this with the same day last year, when we saw capacity at 46.8 per cent or 128 million cubic metres,” he said.
Agriculture Minister Photis Photiou welcomed the rain, saying it would help raise water levels on the island, but added that more rainfall was still desperately needed in order to avoid the possibility of water cuts later in the year.
Photiou last week asked the EU to intervene and support the member states that are facing the negative consequences of drought, adding that the government, as part of its water policy, is planning and implementing desalination and water recycling projects.
President of the Panagrotikos Farmers Union, Kyriakos Hadjiyiannis, echoed the Minister’s thoughts, saying that the heavy rains have helped with crops, but expressed the hope that more rain will follow.
Farmers are facing the brunt of water cuts resulting from the drought so far.
Last December was the second driest in the last 100 years, with only four millimetres of rainfall recorded. It was the exact opposite to October, however, which saw rainfall levels at their second highest for the month since 1901, with 109mm recorded, a 333 per cent increase over the norm.
