Around 9,000 tons of material were collected form eight valleys and four water reservoirs this summer.

Resources Minister George Pullicino said that this material, which included eight tonnes of soil, was cleaned up from valleys in Siggiewi, Rabat and Zebbug and Chadwick Lakes and reservoirs in Mgarr, Bahrija, Sta Lucija and Ghaxaq.

The soil that was collected was redistributed to farmers while workers from the Cleansing Department rebuilt and repaired rubble walls and cleared passage ways in the area.

Speaking during a press conference held in a valley in Siggiewi, Mr Pullicino said it was important for valleys to be kept clear to allow the water to flow through.

He pointed out that the press conference was not held because of Monday’s heavy storm and said that in the near future he would be giving more details of progress in the flood relief project for Msida.

Malta has a potential to store 300,000 cubic metres of water and the project would increase this to 700,000. He said that people still believed that the flood relief project would allow all water to flow out to sea but this was not the case.

The minister also said he was disappointed at the rubbish dumped illegally in the valleys especially keeping in mind that there were civic amenity sites all over Malta open seven days a week and with the bulky refuse service still available on call.

He appealed to the public to cooperate and not dump illegally as he referred to the damage caused by the storm.

Mr Pullicino said that teams under his ministry spent the past few days clearing up rubble from collapsed walls and said that a list of work that needed to be done, including the cost, will now be drawn up.

A team, he said, will be set up together with Transport Malta, which will be responsible for repairing of roads while ministry will be handling pavements and walls.