‘Scenes like an earthquake zone’
A LAPTA expat told of his shock at waking to find his road washed away, cars turned upside down and hurled into a ravine after record rainfall of 260mm on the Selvilitepe peak above gushed down the mountainside on Wednesday night.
Lee Hickens, 63, well known as an entertainer since moving to
North Cyprus 10 years ago with wife Jan, said they had heard “noise like a thousand big waterfalls” during Wednesday night from their home near 20 Temmuz Sokak, Başpınar.
“Little did we know that the road was being washed away, cars pushed into the ravine,” he said yesterday.
“When we woke up the next morning, I saw that some 100m from our house, there were scenes like an earthquake zone.
“The whole area was turned upside down. There are cars smashed and thrown into the ravine, and hundreds of people panicking trying to understand the extent of the damages.”
He added: “We thank God that we are alive. We cannot drive out of our property as the road no longer exists. We were left without electricity for 16 hours. But we commend the Turkish army, electricity authority Kıb-Tek who we have seen working tirelessly to get power back, and the municipality who are showing us attention.”
Sandra Popovic, a fitness instructor at Girne American University, was among those whose cars were crushed when a stone wall collapsed in Lapta during Wednesday night.
“I was and still am shocked at the scene the next morning, with the wall broken down on to the car I had been using for three years,” she said.
“Now it is difficult for me to get to work and unfortunately I couldn’t claim insurance as well as I didn’t have any. Hopefully I will be able to sort something out soon.”
Several expat-favourite Alsancak venues were among those hit by Wednesday and Thursday’s flooding.
They included the Deli Café, whose owner, Gary Hughes, said yesterday: “We were flooded three times and came in at 6am [on Thursday] to check the state of the café. All the water was up to the power cables of the fridges and freezers but thankfully we had switched them off, which prevented any major problems. Everything is fine now and we didn’t even lose any business.”
Oris Beach Bar owner Michael Isackov had both his bar and home flooded by what he dubbed the “Oris tsunami”. “It will take time for us to clean it out and we are receiving very little help from the municipality but we will survive!” he said.
Açmenya restaurant and bar were also left under muddy water, forcing the cancellation of a second Kyrenia Amateur Dramatic Society performance of festive whodunit Santa’s Grotto, due to have taken place on Thursday night.
Meanwhile, former Blue Door restaurant manager Lydia Wise was counting her blessings to have shut the business to take over Hoots in Ilgaz.
“We felt so lucky to have emptied the venue a week ago although people said we were crazy to move up into the mountains instead of remaining in the village — only to see that our old bar was wiped out,” she said.
“The fridge, chairs, furniture and bar were washed out into the garden and the place was full of mud as the water came up so high. Thankfully the owner of the premises had insurance and we are waiting for them to visit.”