A major drainage overflow in Naxxar yesterday caused terrible inconvenience for Triq id-Dejqa residents.

“A steady, ankle-high river ran down the road for a good half an hour,” a resident explained. The flow was so bad that people could not get to their cars when they needed to leave their houses and had to get friends or relatives to pick them up.

Since the flow was so heavy, it is believed that drainage also soiled parts of Lija and Balzan valleys.

Workers from the Water Services Corporation had been working on a drainage problem in the area since early in the morning when a sudden overflow at the top end of the street occurred some minutes after 2pm.

Water Services Corporation workers thought that the system which channels drainage from the primary school area, which is situated on top of the hill in Naxxar, downwards, must have been blocked for some three months, with sewage accumulating until an overflow occurred from one of the manholes at Triq id-Dejqa.

Residents also complained that their houses stink. The WSC committed itself to wash and clean up the roads.

The problem seems to have resulted from a blockage caused by stones, straw and other debris which were not properly disposed of. By the evening, WSC workers were still trying to identify the blockage source although the drainage overflow was stopped as drainage was channeled to alternative routes.