11th January 2016

Information about the floods occurring in the country during January 2016

From the begging of year 2016, Albania has been passing a situation of floods which lasted almost 1 week. The whole country and all the regions were involved in a situation of floods which affected the families, agriculture and livestock. Lately Albania has been passing the situation of floods very often, and this is the third counting from 2015, mentioning here the floods which occurred in February and October 2015, and Observatory drafted a fact sheet about the situation, which you can find in the following link: https://observator.org.al/the-situation-in-the-flooded-areas-in-vlora-fier-berat-and-korca-and-the-need-for-intervention/ .

Observatory for the Children’s Rights with its staff in the 12 regions of the country, collected information about the situation of the floods and the situation is as follows:

Berat Region: In Berat the situation is under control. The flows of Devoll River in Ura Vajgurore municipality are being monitored. The presence of water is observed in the two sides of Devoll River covering an area of 15 hectares of land.

Diber Region: Based on the information of Emergency Staff of Diber Prefecture the situation in Mat and Bulqize is under control, but in Diber district (administrative unit of Melan) one of the schools was closed due to some damages that occurred in the road which links the school with the village because of the water out flowing from the streams of the river. The teachers could not pass the road so the lesson was suspended. In Muhurr, Vajmedhej village the lesson was not held in the school, due to the damages of the roof of the building because of the heavy rain falls, but in some private building. The intervention of the army forces in the embankment of Drin River, saved 200 families from flooding in Gjorice village. Generally the situation is under control. There is no family evacuated or affected from the floods, and the lesson in the schools has been continuing.

Durres Region: Based on the information of Emergency Staff of Durres Prefecture some damaged families were sheltered in the Vacation Resorts of the Ministry of Interior. The central and local state institutions distributed approximately 2000 food and clothing packages for the families, from which 600 packages were distributed from Durres Municipality. In the meeting of the Emergency staff was highlighted the need to take immediate provisions to stabilize the situation of the flooded roads and damaged houses, and to check the situation by filling charge sheets. The Emergency Staff mentioned also the need for investment to strengthen the embankment of Erzen River. In Shijak Municipality 50 families were evacuated and in Sukth 30 families were evacuated.

Fier Region: According to the Emergency Staff, in Mallakastra Region, Seman River has out flowed from its riverbed, but the situation is under control and they are monitoring the situation of Fier Municipality. Some of the indoor courtyards in Levan have had some water, but there are no damages in the houses or affected families. In Lushnje the Emergency Staff in cooperation with the Police evacuated 30 families and notified the other families to leave their houses because the situation was dangerous due to high levels of water of Shkumbin River, near Cerma village.

Elbasan Region: The road from Gramsh to Elbasan was not passable because the bridge was demolished. The local structures are working to get the bridge done within a short period of time. In Miza village the situation is being kept under control, even though the water level reached its highest level and it was taken away with motor pumps.

Lezha Region: In Fushe Kuqe, Lac Municipality even though some agriculture lands were covered from the water the situation is under control and there are no damages in materials. The road Pllane-Zejmen-Lezhe is difficult to be passed by automobiles, because of the soils of the streams.

Shkodra Region: In Vau Dejes Municipality 20 families in Fan Village and 50 families in Shkodra Municipality  risked to be flooded, but dur to interventions the situation is kept under control. In Hajmel 500 hectares of land was flooded, and a bridge in Vig Mnelle was destroyed The road Qafe Thore-Boge-Theth is not passable and the road Puke – Iballe is passable only in one way.

Tirana Region: Don Bosko area is one of the most affected areas from the floods in Tirana. The water has blocked the roads due to blockage of drainage channels. The road is not passable and people were not able to pass from one side of the road to the other. The Emergency Staff in Tirana states that they have evacuated 60 Roma families of the Bregu Lumit area, who were sheltered in the environment of Misto Mame School. The level of Lana River has reached its maximum and risks to emerge in the area near the building with arrows. In Mentor Xhemali road due to the heavy rains the water risks to get insdide the houses. In Berzhita 4 families were evacuated from the Emergency Staff due to the risk of the landslide. In Rrogozhina municipality, Shkumbin river has flooded the area and Emergency staff is taking action to evacuate some families.

Comparison of the number of evacuated families from the floods February 2015 v.s October 2015 v.s January 2016