Keeping heads above water
Stormy weather brought flooding to the capital last weekend. Chief Reporter KEREM HASAN hears local authority ‘forecasts’ for their ability to prevent similar scenes during the coming winter.
MUNICIPALITIES have sounded the alarm about winter flood-prevention strategies, as near-hurricane-force winds and torrential rain left parts of Lefkoşa under water last weekend and Met men warned of more downpours over the next couple of months.
Streets in the capital were inundated, trees brought down, power cut and buildings and vehicles damaged after the island was lashed on Sunday by the tail end of the Mediterranean hurricane, or “medicane”, which hit parts of North Africa, Italy, Greece and Turkey, packing winds of up to 140kph.
Meteorology Department head Raif İlker Buran, who had last week played down the likely impact of the storm, admitted to Cyprus Today the level of rainfall, higher than normal for late September, had taken them by surprise.
He added that after a 2017 winter 30 per cent drier than usual they had now recorded 8 per cent more rain last month than in previous years and were expecting above-average rainfall, of up to 25mm and 50mm respectively, during October and November.
However he predicted 2018 as a whole would show just half the usual total rainfall, while 2019 would also start with below-average recordings in January and February.
The prospect of a wet end to the year caused consternation among local authority heads in some of the country’s biggest towns, with financial restrictions highlighted as a key problem.
Güzelyurt Mayor Mahmut Özçınar, whose area was hit by devastating floods in 2010, said the lessons from then had not been acted upon and “we are in God’s hands”.
“As mayor, I can only pray that we are saved from the kind of storms which could see a repeat of that catastrophe.”
Mr Özçınar added: “What are we supposed to do if 150m3 of water from the Troodos mountains gushes into our streams, including the main river of the town which last caused the major floods
on January 18, 2010 — something we anticipate happens once every 10 years?
“We alerted the government, as winter nears, that there is a need to conon struct flood prevention measures, including . . . models to be constructed in the Bostancı buffer zone with the aim of
making use of any water and keeping it in reservoirs, rather than it just flooding the town and going into the sea.
“Two solutions have been put forward to prevent the Bostancı river overflowing. One was to set up a flood trap, while the other was to have an overflow to direct excessive water to a nearby reservoir or canal in rural land.
“The cost of such a project, which also requires the cooperation of the Greek Cypriots and central government involvement, is beyond us as the municipality.”
Lapta Mayor Mustafa Aktuğ, facing his first winter in charge, said the current economic crisis and “excessive debts” left by his predecessor had hampered his ability to take flood-prevention measures.
“With this concern in mind, straight after coming into office [in June], we submitted a project to the Turkish Embassy for a full drainage system in parts of Lapta. The Rose Garden hotel road and the ‘hotels strip’ are in urgent need of drainage and we are concerned that excessive, sudden rain could cause major floods as previously seen. Club Lapethos hotel has previously been flooded.
“The situation in Karşıyaka is worse because of the road conditions and cliffs — and we have asked for funding from Turkey for projects to build drainage and pavements in the Atatürk bust area and on the main roads of Karşıyaka.
“But for now, as far as our own budgets are concerned, we are limited in what we can do, and have just tried to clean the area’s river beds.”
Alsancak Mayor Fırat Ataser said parts of his municipality, including the western end of the Girne bypass, were prone to flooding because of the lack of a proper drainage system.
However his authority had cleared debris from six of the area’s river beds “to help prevent any flooding from there”.
Çatalköy’s Mehmet Hulusioğlu said he had taken similar steps with five river beds in his area, in preparation for winter, and “aside from possible minor flooding, we aren’t expecting any problems”.
Doğan Sahir, of the Green Action Group, said flooding was not an “environmental catastrophe”, but a side-effect of “lack of regulation” and “absence of planning”, particularly in relation to development in the Girne area.
“There are no plans and regulations enforced, with constructions even going up in river beds. This is massacring our environment, and the results come back to us as a catastrophe,” he said.