Albanian gov't pledges compensation to flood-hit citizens

TIRANA, Dec. 2 (Xinhua) -- The Albanian government Saturday said that it had started work to carry a transparent assessment of the flood damages that hit Albania recently.

Speaking at the meeting of the civil emergencies committee, Albania's Prime Minister Edi Rama assured all flood-hit farmers, businesses and households that they would be compensated.

Rama said that the investments made so far in the irrigation and drainage systems mitigated the flood effects.

"Fortunately, the consequences of the floods were less devastating than the floods in 2015 and this happened thanks to the investments made," Rama said.

The torrential rains that swept Albania in the last three days caused massive floods across the country.

Farmers were the most affected ones as huge crop losses and damages to the agricultural land have been reported and thousands of hectares of land are still under water.

Considerable greenhouse areas have been totally damaged by flooding, while losses in livestock continue to grow.

Head of civil emergencies Shemsi Prenci said the situation is now under control while no victims were reported as a result of floods.

He said that there is no room for panic and the emergencies groups and the Armed Forces would continue to stay alert in case of worsening of weather conditions.

But as the rain continues in several parts of the country, citizens' fears grow for another wave of rain that might be devastating for them.

Many roads in the region have been blocked by mudslides. Ports and airport were temporarily paralyzed while several bridges were destroyed.

According to officials on Saturday, more than 3,000 households were underwater, around 45,000 residents were without power while 3,016 hectares were flooded. Enditem