Anthony Debono, 51, has lived all his life in a small farmhouse on Valley Road just below the bridge.

He tills the fields that abut on to the reservoir next to the headquarters of the hunters’ federation and has seen many flooded roads in his life.

It has made him respect nature’s unstoppable force but Mr Debono cannot help but reminisce on what he describes as bad decisions taken along the years.

“I remember the existence of a tunnel beneath Valley Road that went all the way from where the Labour Party club is situated in Msida to Mannarino Road in Birkirkara. We used to run through it with torches when we were children,” he says.

However, his face changes as he points towards a manhole. When the drainage services were laid, he says, the contractor simply used the tunnel to place the pipes. It is unclear whether records of this tunnel exist.

During emergency road works at the Birkirkara end of Valley Road last week, workers found culverts hewn into rock that probably dated back to before World War II.

Mr Debono believes last week’s storm was more severe than that of September 2003. He points to the retaining wall that separates his fields from the road. Large stone blocks were washed away by flood waters.

“I was promised by [Minister] George Pullicino’s workers last week that the wall would be repaired.

“The waters have long receded and the wall is still as it was,” he says, fearing the next storm will cause water from the road to gush directly into his field and wash away the topsoil.