High winds wreak havoc but leave no casualties

Malta and Gozo were battered by gale force winds on Wednesday night uprooting trees and causing extensive structural damage to many buildings but injuring no one.

The wind blew solar-water heaters, water-tanks and satellite dishes off rooftops around the islands, according to several reports. It also caused damage to a number of buildings of cultural importance.

The Malta International Airport Met Office said it recorded a maximum gust of 62 knots from the south to the east in Selmun on Wednesday evening.

It said the strongest gust at Luqa was 46 knots at 9.30 p.m. while the maximum gust ever recorded at Luqa Airport was 72 knots on October 11 1982.

Among the damaged structures was the Xarolla windmill in Żurrieq, built in 1724 and restored in 1992. Dating back to the time of the knights, the windmill is the only one of its kind in working order in Malta but the strong wind destroyed nearly all of its vanes.

In Gozo, a nine-foot fibreglass and concrete statue of Our Lady of Pompeii was ripped off the dome of a small church annexed to the Dominican convent in Victoria.

The protective shelter being installed over the Mnajdra Temples also suffered some damage but the temples themselves emerged unscathed.

A Żabbar bus shelter was pulled from its mountings, together with hoardings in a number of localities. The roof of an empty garage in Fgura collapsed and a large tree was uprooted in front of the of the law courts in Valletta and catapulted onto a balcony nearby. Further up the road, a police guard box near Castille Place was blown onto the nearby monument of Sir Paul Boffa.

Debris from fallen balconies or walls dented several cars in Mellieħa and St Julians and a sailing yacht called Fusion went adrift between Manoel Island and Ta' Xbiex and was rescued by the AFM.

Tent Village in Ħal Far also fell victim to the harsh winds and about 12 tents in which immigrants were housed, were severely damaged.

According to the Gozo Ministry, the areas worst affected on the sister island were Sannat, Xewkija, Nadur and Mġarr.

A number of electricity poles were also brought down, cutting the electricity supply in some areas and members of the Civil Protection Department and the Department for Projects and Development were busy clearing the streets from debris from collapsed rubble walls and uprooted trees.

Although power cuts were also experienced in Malta, according to Vodafone and Go, mobile connections were not affected thanks to generators and batteries.

cperegin@timesofmalta.com