Pristina Flooded Again in Heavy Rain

Pristina once again faced widespread flooding last Sunday as the city’s wastewater system failed to cope with torrential rain.

The town hall estimates that the inundation caused around 370, 000 euro, mainly in the Hajvali, Vranjevc, and Lagjja e Spitalit neighbourhoods.  Hundreds of homes were flooded in the deluge.

Agim Gashi, the head of the department for public services and emergency planning, told Balkan Insight that the municipality has allocated 70,000 euro for the families affected by the floods.

He said the drains had been well maintained but argued that in case of “exceptional rainfall”, the water would overflow into the street, as happened.

“In our general meeting, the municipality [decided] we will spend 70,000 euro on the flood damages, which is not enough to cover all the damage, which is around 370,000 euro.

“We will also receive funds from the government in order to be able to pay to repair the damages caused by the floods, but are not able to do it right away. We’ll need a few days to go through all the government procedures,” said Gashi.

The village of Shkabaj was hardest hit, with 35 flooded households, which were forced to cope without electricity for two days. More than ten pharmaceutical stores in the Lagjja e Spitalit, near the hospital, have been unable to save much of their products from the floods.

Gashi also claimed that 176 families from different parts of Pristina have had their homes flooded.

He added that maintenance companies have began the clean up in the Vranjevc neighbourhood.