[WATCH] Calm after the storm: 200 tonnes of debris, seaweed expected

Storm, strong winds wreak havoc across Malta • Video: Ivan Consiglio

Some 200 tonnes of debris, waste and seaweed are expected to be collected from the carnage left behind by the powerful storm that battered Malta on Saturday. 

The Cleansing Directorate’s head Ramon Deguara told MaltaToday that workers filled trucks up with 80 tonnes of debris on Saturday and are expected to collect over double that amount before the end of the day.

“This was a particularly strong storm, definitely the strongest to have hit St George’s Bay in the past 16 years, and it will take up to two weeks to completely clean up all the debris and seaweed,” he admitted.

A total of 70 Cleansing Directorate workers have been deployed to clean up the damage, that was particularly striking in coastal towns, such as Sliema, St Julian’s, Valletta, Xemxija, St Paul’s Bay, Bugibba, Qawra, and Marsaskala were worst hit. Several fishing boats in Xemxija, Marsaskala and Dock 1 in Cospicua were smashed to smithereens, and beach infrastructure such as ladders and bins were left completely destroyed.

Sliema was heavily affected by the storm. Photo: David Muscat

A number of bus stages, traffic signs, benches, street lamps and other street furniture were destroyed in Sliema and St. Julian’s, a few trees around the island were uprooted, and the waves at one point managed to toss a 1,100 litre skip into Xemxija Bay.

The north-eastern storm also flooded several areas of the island with seaweed, in particular Xemxija, Marsaskala, and St. George’s Bay. Deguara said that the Cleansing Directorate today managed to fill up eight trucks with around 35,000-40,000 kilos of seaweed from Xemxija, as well as clear a road in St. Paul’s Bay that had been completely blocked with seaweed. Work is now ongoing to clean up the seaweed that has blocked the road next to St. Thomas Bay, an operation that Deguara expects to be completed by the end of the day.  

Seaweed littered the beaches at Bahar ic-Caghaq

Cleansing Directorate workers come to terms with the extent of the storm's damage.

The storm wrecked street furniture in Sliema. Photo: David Muscat

Cleansing Directorate trucks piled up with debris collected from Xemxija Bay

Cleansing Directorate workers clean up the streets of Marsaskala