A car repair workshop has been held responsible for damages caused to a car by stormwater flooding.

The case goes back to September 2012 when a severe storm caused heavy flooding in Msida.

An Alfa Romeo 156 which was undergoing repairs at Walforf Auto Service Centre was declared a total loss when the garage found itself flooded with a metre of water.

The owner claimed and was given compensation of €7,000 by Citadel Insurance, which in turn sued UCIM Co Ltd as owners of the garage.

READ: Times of Malta report about the 2012 storm

The court heard evidence of how the garage workers tried to keep the water out by closing the shutters. They also raised cars on jacks and chained them to stop them being dragged away by the water.

A long-serving worker described how he had never seen such flooding in 27 years.

The Alfa ended under water and was declared beyond economical repair.

The garage owners argued in their defence that the flooding was a result of force majeure.

The court, however, said it was not convinced that the garage owners had done everything possible to avoid the incident since the car could have been removed from the garage before the storm.

The garage owners were therefore held responsible for the damages. Ucim Co Ltd was ordered to pay Citadel Insurance €6,195.