A total of 155 tonnes of debris has been cleared from the streets after a record-breaking storm hit Malta over the weekend with a further 30 tonnes expected to be cleared by the end of Monday night, Prime Minister Joseph Muscat said in a ministerial statement in Parliament on Monday.

The Prime Minister said that Malta had not seen such a storm since 1982, and that winds had peaked at 133 kilometres per hour. According to the Saffir-Simpson scale, these wind speeds would classify the storm as a Category 1 (the lowest category) Hurricane.

Muscat expressed his thanks to all members of the Civil Protection Department, Armed Forces, Police and volunteers from St. John’s Ambulance as well, along with members of the Public Cleansing department who had worked tirelessly throughout the weekend and into Monday to aid cleaning and recovery works.

Muscat said that there had been 486 calls for assistance directed to the CPD, and added that a total of 26 people had to be evacuated from their homes – 14 from Sliema and 12 from Vittoriosa. Enemalta meanwhile had received over 2,000 calls for assistance, and identified 978 cases of damage, some of which are still being repaired.

The gas tanker in Delimara, Muscat said, did not need to be moved from its moorings.  The Water Services Corporation had reported that there was substantial damage to the water mains running between Malta and Gozo, and Muscat said that repair work would start as soon as sea conditions permitted it.

An exercise to quantify the level of damage in each sector was underway, Muscat said.  He said that Malta was looking into applying for funds from the European Union Solidarity Fund, although this was pending on the level of damages sustained as it had to be of a certain percentage of the gross national income to be eligible for the fund.

Muscat also said that they were looking into granting state aid to those in the agricultural sector who had suffered great damages as in such cases it was possible to gain an exemption in providing supporting funds to farmers. An exercise would also be underway to assess the damage done to historical buildings and how that damage affects the longevity of these structures.

Opposition Leader Adrian Delia meanwhile also praised workers and volunteers who had worked tirelessly to make sure that Malta remained safe and was thankful that, unlike in 1982, nobody had tragically lost their lives during the storm. 

He was pleased to hear of the efforts to assess the damage and to support those in the agricultural sector, however he noted that the damage sustained by carnival enthusiasts in their floats had not been mentioned in the Prime Minister’s statement and said that he hoped that these enthusiasts could also receive some form of support.

Delia said that the government should consider using the EU’s Structural Fund to help cope with the damages sustained during the storm, and also said that he would be supporting the government’s efforts to obtain these funds.  PN MEPs were already working to this end as well, Delia said.

A number of PN MPs made interventions, all commending the work of civil protection workers and volunteers and asking various questions pertaining to elements of the storm to the Prime Minister.

Muscat said that he agreed that there was the need for a post-mortem but that at face-value the system for the flow of information seemed to have work very well.  The state of affairs report that he had requested had been sent with good levels of detail, but still there was no harm done in carrying out an analysis to see what things can be improved either way.

Responding to an assertion in favour regional centres for the CPD, as said by PN MP Toni Bezzina, Muscat said that some weeks ago the government had approved a plan for the CPD, one measure being for instance for a station in case of an earthquake, not knowing that such a need for it would be so immediate.  He said that how the CPD is spread is too skewed to one side of the country as things are and that there was need for them to be spread out more effectively across the island.

Responding to Delia, Muscat said that his mentioning of the Structural Plan was a question of a different interpretation by Delia as these can be used but they have to be borrowed and if it can be afforded it would be better to use national fund.  This being said he assured farmers that they would not be left alone and that the government would in some way be looking to provide aid to them.

He said that the European Solidarity Fund depended firstly on the GNI – Gross National Income – from which 0.6% is taken as damage, which in Malta’s case is €60 million. It is still early and it would be irresponsible to peg a particular figure to the storm damages at this point, Muscat said.  If the damages do exceed this number, Muscat said, then there is an amount of 2.5% that Malta can qualify for – meaning that Malta would qualify for just over €1.5 million. If the damage is over that 60 million, then the mechanism means an extra €600,000 in funds.  Muscat said that it could not be that people think of the EU as their insurance plan – this is not how it works, he added.  He appealed for caution and understanding so that people can understand the nature of such a fund.

He said that where possible, trees would be saved as opposed to uprooted, as was pointed out by PN MP Beppe Fenech Adami.  He spoke of a concern raised by PN MP David Stellini who said that there was an EU fund for insurance in terms of agriculture, saying that this assertion was correct but that one cannot look at it as a sectoral issue – as other countries do – as such a storm for Malta ends up being a national issue.  The government cannot be an insurance for everyone; but it will help as much as possible, Muscat said.

In terms of infrastructure, it seems that the storm water system worked quite well – but noted that the storm, compared with 1982, was more focused on winds rather than rain and sheer flooding.

He also said that the gas tanker in the case of a storm it is standard protocol for a tug boat to station itself near the ship.  He said that due to the direction of the wind there was no need for the tanker to be removed from its moorings.

He also confirmed that a financial grant will be given to carnival enthusiasts who have seen their floats suffer damage.