Albania still facing difficulties with floods as snow replaces rain

TIRANA, Dec. 3 (Xinhua) -- Waters in Albania's main rivers started to recede Sunday but snow has covered major part of north Albania what has made the floods situation even worse.

As a result of snow, several villages in the north were blocked Sunday while work is underway to open the main road axes.

Albania has been swiped by torrential rains and storms for days that led to massive floods in the country. At least one person has died in the last three days of heavy rainfall.

The Civil Emergency Committee reported that over 600 families have been evacuated from their houses which are under water.

"The total number of houses affected by water or flooded is 3,337 countrywide. However, we are all mobilized to mitigate the effects of recent floods," head of civil emergency committee Shemsi Prenci told reporters.

He added that the moderate improvement of weather helped the rescue teams and soldiers who have been working in the field since Thursday.

Some primary schools were damaged. Albanian Education Minister Lindita Nikolla announced on Sunday noon that classes couldn't resume on Monday in 56 schools countrywide.

The authorities have started calculating the damage to consider financial compensation. Prime Minister Edi Rama assured citizens on Saturday that the government would compensate them all for their losses.

Meanwhile, considering the flooding situation, Albanian Konfindustria (union of industries) on Sunday requested making amendments to the 2018 budget so that more funds and more attention is paid to the prevention of floods.

Through a press release, General Manager of Konfindustria Gjergj Buxhuku urged the government to work out and implement the strategy of preventing massive floods as soon as possible.

He called for an extraordinary session of the Albanian Parliament in which such issues should be addressed with priority.

"The Albanian Parliament should ask the executive to prepare the projects and submit for approval the necessary changes to the 2018 budget," he said. Enditem