Unprecedented heavy hail hit Nicosia on Monday

Fire crews were working into the early hours of Tuesday after heavy rains and hail struck the island mainly in the municipalities of Tseri, Latsia, Lakatamia and Strovolos on Monday afternoon.

Speaking to state broadcaster CyBC, services spokesman Andreas Kettis said that one basement in Strovolos had been covered in a thick layer of hail and crews needed to use an excavator to remove it.

The heavy hail and rainfall lasted about 20 to 30 minutes but caused a large spate of incidents.

According to the spokesman, the number of calls received on Monday night reached 78 while 20 crews were at work until 2am responding to incidents involving flooding and opening of drain pipes.

The crews included 13 from the fire service, two from the volunteer organisation Support Cy, two from the civil defence, two from Etea and a team from the voluntary organisation Pavlos. Members of the Nicosia district staff were also recalled from leave to assist.

Police were also notified of problems caused by a large amount of water on Limassol avenue while there were also several stuck vehicles and damage.

In addition, according to daily Politis, the CyBC building in Aglandja was severely damaged by the weather events on Monday, as water penetrated more than 15 points throughout the premises, in some cases very close to electrical installations.

The president of the Eurik union, which represents CyBC workers, Christos Kaniklides said the inadequacy of the building has been known “for quite some time”.

“Proof of the inadequacy has been sent to both CyBC management and to the media a while ago,” he told Politis.

“This was done to point out the building’s ageing conditions and to call on the people responsible to address the issues properly.

“Unfortunately, the excuse of lack of funds was always used to avoid addressing them,” Kaniklides said.