Speaking in Parliament, she said that children living in the worst hit areas are still traumatised by the events. Apart from the damage done to residential property, there were also a number of commercial premises that suffered tremendous losses.

Ms Coleiro said the government, “rather than concentrating on taking action, is hiding behind never-ending reports”.

She added none of the money accessed from the EU solidarity fund will reach the victims of these floods. These include a large number of farmers.

In his reply, Minister for Resources and Infrastructure Ninu Zammit said that contrary to Ms Coleiro’s statements action is being taken. This however had to be preceded by a careful study. Last year’s floods were exceptional, he said, and engineers will take this into account when re-designing the water course.

Marsa and Qormi were catchment areas for water that flowed from all over the nearby hills, having their source in Dingli. He listed a number of problems that exacerbated the bottleneck effect of the zone.

Valleys and natural watercourses had been blocked by buildings or have been clogged by both natural and man-made debris.

Rural Affairs and the Environment Minister George Pullicino said that the government decided to utilise the EU’s E1 million on repair and development work.

This was done to prevent similar problems from happening again, and secondly because farmers already had access to subsidies provided by the government.