A man who was trying to recover his boat from rough seas was rescued on Sunday night, while a motorist and his passenger were lucky to escape uninjured as strong winds ripped a huge branch off an old tree in Balzan, the branch landing on the car, damaging it badly and blocking the road to traffic.
Contacted by The Malta Independent, Peter Cordina, director of the Civil Protection Department (CPD), said trees were damaged during the stormy night and a number of boats foundered in the high waves.
One man who was trying to recover his boat from the rough sea close to Portomaso, St Julian’s, found himself in difficulty and was rescued by CPD personnel at about 10pm on Sunday, said Lt. Col. Cordina.
As for the big branch that broke off a tree in Balzan valley, the motorist and his female passenger, both from Lija, escaped uninjured and were helped out of the car, a Fiat Punto, by onlookers.
The Sunday night storm also caused the collapse of a perimeter wall surrounding Mater Dei Hospital.
Chris Scicluna, Foundation for Medical Services spokesman said: “The wall that collapsed on Sunday night due to the gale force winds, is detached from the hospital building.
“The rubble has been cleared and the wall will be repaired by the hospital’s contractors, since the accident occurred during the damage and liability period, which forms part of the contract signed between the government and Skanska.”
Apart from damage caused to trees, the Sunday night storm, as well as other minor storms, and strong winds over the past week caused quite a mess, as rubble was carried onto streets, electricity poles were damaged and plastic barriers drifted away, causing havoc wherever roadworks had been underway.
Evidently, the barriers were not filled with water, as they should have been, and motorists had to dodge their way around them; ironically however, yesterday morning some workers were seen filling up barriers with water close to Manwel Dimech Bridge in St Julian’s.
A spokesman from the Meteorological Office said low pressure over the Adriatic Sea caused strong winds to blow cold air from northern Europe, but the wind is expected to die down over the coming days, bringing atmospheric temperature closer to the mean temperature for this time of year.
Atmospheric temperature went down to 11°C on the chilly Sunday night, which is quite low compared to 16.8°C – the minimum mean temperature registered in October over the past 30 years (the maximum mean temperature for the month of October is 23.8°C).
Gozo Channel Company Limited also had to cancel scheduled trips due to rough seas on Sunday evening, even though one particular ferry left Mgarr Harbour, sailed around Comino and eventually returned to Mgarr.
The Meteorological Office spokesman said the west-north-westerly wind blew at force seven to force eight on Sunday night, but is expected to blow from the north-west at force five today.
Atmospheric temperature is also expected to increase over the next couple of days, bringing the minimum temperatures up to 19°C and maximum temperatures to 25°C by the weekend.