CYPRUS: Heavy rainfall causes flash floods and washes away roads in north

The north of the island witnessed severe damages to its infrastructure due to the heavy storms lashing Cyprus over the past few days.

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According to Turkish Cypriot media roads and bridges have collapsed, cutting off the flow of traffic especially in the Karpasia region.

Yeniduzen daily’s internet site reported on the partial collapse of the road between Trikomo and Rizokarpaso.

Initially Turkish Cypriot authorities had closed one lane of the road on Wednesday morning, only to close the whole road just a few hours later.

A bridge on a road leading from Lithrangomi in the Karpasia peninsula, to the coast was cut off entirely as a bridge and part of the road was washed away by rivers forming from the heavy rain prevailing in the region.

According to reports from the north, Tolga Atakan, head of the Turkish Cypriot communications authority, told reporters that “this was nature’s reply to us blocking river beds”.

Atakan also said that infrastructure in the Turkish-held north took into consideration that Cyprus does not see much rainfall.

“Authorities will have to revise and amend infrastructure so as to be able to withstand heavy rainfall,” he added.

There was an outcry over shoddy town planning when bad weather conditions had hit the northern part of Cyprus about a month ago when four young people were trapped and died in their vehicle which had fallen off a cliff as it was swept away by floods in the suburbs of Kyrenia.

Meanwhile, the heavy rainfall has taken its toll on the south of the island, with Limassol roads reportedly flooded on Wednesday afternoon.

A yellow alert was issued on Wednesday morning by the Cyprus Meteorological Service. The warning concerns storms, probably accompanied by hail, that are expected to affect the broader region until Thursday.