The heavy rain that lashed the Maltese Islands on Friday morning ravaged Balluta Bay, where most of the recently replenished sand was carried out to sea.

Pictures taken shortly after this morning’s heavy downpour showed how the rainwater has left wide channels in the sand. The back part of the beach seems to be the most affected area.

It seems that the sand was carried away by water that came gushing out of several storm drains that shoot out onto the stairs at the back of the beach.

The much-hyped sand replenishment project has been marred by a number of incidents. People initially complained that the sand, which was dredged from the bottom of the bay, did not look natural, especially at the water’s edge.

Then, a black liquid had trickled down the steps and onto the sand just one day after the project was completed.

More recently, the arches on both sides of the bay were closed off for repairs after it was found that the structures, which lie underneath the pavement, were heavily cracked and the metal mesh was showing in several areas.  

In a statement, the Malta Tourism Authority and the Ministry for Tourism said have been observing the expected changes happening at the newly nourished Balluta Bay.

As both entities have explained from the very start of this project, the various coastal constructions present in the bay’s vicinities have over the years altered wave dynamics.  The beach nourishment project is experimental, and was purposely designed in order to gain understanding on the way such temporarily nourished beaches would react during summer and under specific storm conditions.  The main aim of the project is to test the feasibility of dredging sand from the same bay, rather than importing alien sand material from abroad.  A second aim is to test the stability of the nourished beach over summer. Thirdly, the stability of the beach over time is observed, once the stormy season starts, the statement said.

The beach has been monitored on a quasi-daily basis and this will continue over the following weeks and months, so as to acquire the necessary knowledge to assess the project in its totality. In the coming days, the expected storm damage will be monitored and experts will assess whether the sand has been deposited at the bottom of the beach slope or lost further out into the bay.  They will also look into the eventuality of some of the lost sand being naturally deposited once again onto the beach by waves.

Considering that the swimming season is not over yet, the sand will likely be relocated over the next days so as to fill in the channels formed by the running water.  Despite the displacement of sand there is still ample sand on the beach. This verifies the effectiveness of the project, which has provided an enlarged sandy beach in this highly touristic locality.

The bay has been temporarily closed, the statement concluded.