Section # 25 Malta 03/09/2012 Storm
On Monday 3rd September 2012, Malta was hit by an exceptional thunderstorm.. It started on Sunday evening. The sky was very dark and suddenly, a strong gust of wind made everyone who was out for a walk wonder what was happening because it caused several objects in the street to be blown away. This was a sort of signal because in a matter of seconds the doors of heaven opened and all the people who where outside their home got wet to the skin as was the case with myself and my wife. We hurried home and after changing our clothes we set watching what was the first thunderstorm of the season. Till then it seemed that the worst was still to come because the night sky was being lit with flashes of continuous lightning but there was no roaring of thunder. During the night it kept raining heavily and every now and then we could hear some thunder in the distance but the lightning, never stopped.
In the morning it was calm enough and we had to accompany our son and his wife to the airport. But knowing what happens after such heavy rainfall, we set off from our summer house in St. Paul's Bay quite in good time. We arrived at the airport two hours later because I could hardly drive due to the heavy traffic, in spite of the fact that I did my best to avoid those areas which usually are flooded.
On the radio and on television one could hear about the disaster which was caused by the storm. Then at about four in the afternoon we had another couple of hours of heavy rain which caused further accidents and panic in the streets.
Besides the photos which you can see in the slide-show hereunder which speak for themselves, the worst was that a man died because he was hit by lightning. Several people were almost drowned but although some were taken to hospital, there were no other fatal cases. The most sensational case was that two persons were caught in their cars the tunnel which leads from St.Venera to Qormi and which was half full of water. Some days later, they spoke of their terrible experience on television.
In the morning it was calm enough and we had to accompany our son and his wife to the airport. But knowing what happens after such heavy rainfall, we set off from our summer house in St. Paul's Bay quite in good time. We arrived at the airport two hours later because I could hardly drive due to the heavy traffic, in spite of the fact that I did my best to avoid those areas which usually are flooded.
On the radio and on television one could hear about the disaster which was caused by the storm. Then at about four in the afternoon we had another couple of hours of heavy rain which caused further accidents and panic in the streets.
Besides the photos which you can see in the slide-show hereunder which speak for themselves, the worst was that a man died because he was hit by lightning. Several people were almost drowned but although some were taken to hospital, there were no other fatal cases. The most sensational case was that two persons were caught in their cars the tunnel which leads from St.Venera to Qormi and which was half full of water. Some days later, they spoke of their terrible experience on television.