Valley Road in Birkirkara flooded as usual during the heavy rain. Photo: Mark Tanti

Another storm lashed the islands just after noon yesterday, flooding the usually prone areas, cutting short swimming and sailing expeditions and causing some damage.

In Ċirkewwa, a canopy was blown off and hit some cars. In San Ġwann, near the Regional Road, a lamppost was wrenched out of place while another three were dislodged in Marfa Road, Mellieħa.

Low-lying areas, particularly Msida and Qormi, suffered road flooding and traffic in many districts was reduced to a crawl. A number of trees were uprooted, causing more driver misery.

Shortly before 1pm the alarm was raised when a number of small sailing boats with children in them capsized in St Paul’s Bay.

Nine children ended up in the sea and were brought safely to shore.

A patrol boat was deployed by the Armed Forces of Malta and an ambulance was also at the scene.

Later, an official of the Malta Young Sailors’ Club said the boats were capsized on purpose and the children were immediately picked up by the coach boats.

All were unharmed and the official said they were never in any danger.

The police issued a warning for motorists to be cautious but the rain had subsided by the afternoon.

No casualties were reported in yesterday’s thunderstorm, which registered 17.4mm of rain, in contrast to the far worse storm on September 3 last year when a 39-year-old man died after being struck by lightning while hunting. That day, 42.4mm of rain had fallen.

The possibility of a storm had been forecast at the weekend. A Met Office spokesman yesterday said it stretched from central Sicily to the Maltese islands and has now moved eastwards.

The weather for this weekend is forecast to be nice and sunny with light wind.

The same storm system produced rain on four days this month, with a total of 32mm measured in Luqa. Heavy rains on Tuesday night measured 10.8mm. The total September average is 40mm.

The wind was recorded at 28 knots with a gust reaching 47 knots.

The first thunderstorm this summer came on August 22, a week after the Santa Marija feast. It was the first rainfall in August since 2006, when about eight millimetres of rain fell on the ninth.

August is known for the first autumn raindrops, as the Maltese saying goes: Awwissu x-xemx taħarqu u x-xita tmissu (August is scorched by the sun and touched by the rain)