Council calls for compensation for flooding damage

Qormi local council has urged the government to assist families and businesses who suffered damaged during yesterday's flooding.

In a statement, the council said flooding in Qormi has been a recurring problem since 1979.

The council noted positively the work done by the government in the lower end of the valley, helping to ease the problem. However, it said, yesterday's rainfall showed that the problem had not gone away.

It expressed solidarity with the families and businesses that had suffered damages and called on the government to help them shoulder their financial losses.

Among the worst hit yesterday was an undertaker whose store was flooded, damaging 800 coffins, some of which floated out with the water. He said he had suffered damages of almost €350,000.

The council welcomed the reference in yesterday's Budget to a National Flood Relief plan to address the problem.

The council also complained about sewage overflows near the cemetery and the Qormi FC football ground whenever it rained heavily. It regretted that the Water Services Corporation, instead of acting to solve the problem, had instead blamed illegal connections to the sewage system and called on the council to better enforce the law.

The council insisted that an action plan needed to be drawn up to solve this problem once and for all.