Most of the flooding in the Salini area was caused by a plastic bag that found its way through a grating and clogged up a pipe, Lino Zammit, assistant chief executive officer at the Malta Transport Authority, said.

Mr Zammit explained that while conducting emergency clearance operations near the Ghallis Tower on Monday, a team of workers found a plastic bag stuck in a pipe. Once it was removed, the water drained in minutes.

"If people would only control themselves and not litter it would be of great help to everyone. Apart from being an eyesore, litter may find its way into the gratings and clog up the whole system, disrupting traffic.

"Small things, when washed into culverts, can accumulate and build up substantial barriers. But it is not only small things that cause blockage since pipes have been blocked by things ranging from take-away containers to mattresses to animal carcasses," he said.

Mr Zammit explained that a team of workers had been working to restore the roads to safety since Monday.

"On Monday we cleared up in emergency areas such as Rabat, overlooking Mtarfa, where a wall collapsed into the road," he said.

He explained that throughout the week, works were also carried out in Mgarr, Qormi and other areas but when it came to resurfacing the damaged roads, although reconstruction works had started, they had to wait for the roads to dry.

Works included cleaning of culverts.

The MTA had completed its annual 15-day cleaning of culverts before Monday's storm - but the heavy rain swept debris, such as the soil from roundabouts, into the culverts blocking them.

When contacted, MTA's PRO Daniela Borg Mizzi said that despite the weather conditions, buses had operated as usual this week.

The buses left from their respective termini, but because of the flooding some had to take different routes and others had to stop by the side of the road leaving people waiting on bus stops for long periods of time.

No buses are understood to have been damaged.

The public may call freephone 800 72393 to report damage to arterial and distributor roads.