Motorists navigating the Coast Road yesterday found an unexpected water hazard near Kennedy Grove, after the road flooded following a heavy early morning downpour.

Similar flooding last year in the same area was blamed on a faulty storm water system at the T’Alla w Ommu hill.

The flooding had led to Transport Malta upgrading the system, which included enlarging a number of gratings and gullies to enable them to better handle the water flow.

Flooding near Kennedy Grove. Photo: Maltese Roads Traffic UpdatesFlooding near Kennedy Grove. Photo: Maltese Roads Traffic Updates

A spokesman for Transport Malta, the entity that dubbed the Coast Road as the “most beautiful road in Malta” in a promotional video, said this time round the flooding was caused by debris blocking the drainage system.

“The storm water network, that takes water from the surface of the road to the outflows, is working as designed,” the spokesman said.

He added that debris carried by the storm, ranging from soil to branches and construction material, blocked the grates and caused flooding in some areas.

The material gathered following yesterday morning’s “freak storm”. The debris accumulated because of the strong winds, heavy rainfall and the surface runoff from adjacent fields and side roads, he said. Water flowed through the pipe network normally as soon as the foreign material was removed, the spokesman said.

Transport Malta personnel were dispatched on site to coordinate the cleaning of the debris, he added. The Coast Road was reopened to traffic last year after numerous delays and budget overruns.

The project involved the widening of a 7.5-kilometre stretch which saw numerous fatal traffic accidents in the past.

Last year, the Court of Auditors flagged a “serious failure” in the direct award of works to one contractor in the EU-funded project.

This led to the EU withholding €11 million in funding for the €53 million project.

The government had said that, following renegotiations with the contractors, it had saved €30 million in project costs.

Observers noted that these savings likely led to the skimping on certain works.

Certain traffic markings, zebra crossings and traffic lights were only put in place several months after the road reopened.

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