A restaurant owner in Marsalforn Bay has been forced to cancel bookings and send their staff home because of huge wave swells hitting the promenade.
Restaurant owner and long-time resident Diane Falzon said that waves up around four metres high battered the promenade and forced them to shut up shop during one of the busiest periods of the year.
“Today is Saturday, it could be worse tomorrow. There is still the swell. It’s also the festive season. It’s very damaging for us.” Ms Falzon said.
Buildings along the Marsalforn promenade have long had to contend with large swells during storms which damage both the buildings and the seafront itself.
“Last January [2018] the waves lifted tiles from the floor, broke a window and a door. The water swept away tables and chairs. Shutters and tents were broken. We had to pay for the repairs out of our own money. It’s not only about me, it’s about everyone,” Ms Falzon explained.
Malta is currently experiencing Force 8 north-westerly winds that are causing property damage and have forced some Saturday events to be postponed until the weather dies down.
Breakwater promises
Locals have been promised a breakwater, though it has yet to materialise.
“They have been mentioning building the breakwater for years now. They have been promising it even since the previous government, but nothing has been done about it. It’s in the pipeline but it never arrives, it never starts,” Ms Falzon said.
“Instead, they re-paint the walls and railings after every winter. Every year they incur damage and then they repair it. They want to make the promenade look nice. Winter comes and we’re back to square one. It is high time that something is done about this breakwater,” she added.
In January, the Gozo Minister Justyne Caruana unveiled breakwater designs involving arms that would enclose and protect the Marsalforn Bay.
The designs showed the enclosure of the mouth of the bay, with a 200-metre-long arm at Santa Maria point and another 170-metre-long protrusion from Għar Qawqla.
Another tender involved a different plan for two much smaller breakwater arms: 150 metres long at Santa Maria point and 100 metres at Il-Menqa, with a much wider gap between them. This plan was dated earlier than the published designs, August instead of October 2018.