Cyprus Mail 25 June 2019 - article by Annette Chrysostomou
Photo: Christos Theodorides
The rainfall in June surpassed 300 per cent of what is normal for the time of the year after the recent rain and thunderstorms, Kitas weather reported on Tuesday.
After heavy rain in the mountains and inland last week and over the weekend, several rivers have started to flow again, with reservoirs also collecting an increasing amount of water.
According to the weather site, the 2018/19 season recorded the second highest amount of rain since data started being collected in 1901.
The biggest amount of rain fell in 1968/1969, a total of 800mm, while this season the amount was 760.3mm.
The overall level of water in the reservoirs is still at 92.1 per cent, compared with last year’s 21.4 per cent.
A number of reservoirs are more than 90 per cent full, among them the biggest, Kouris, which is at 95.3 per cent of capacity, up from just 16.1 per cent at the same time last year.
Kouris, the biggest in Cyprus, can hold 115,000 million cubic metres, and it currently holds 109.621.
Several dams overflowed for the first time in years, among them the second biggest, Asprokremmos. The last time it overflowed was in 2012, but this year the overflow was particularly remarkable because it was nearly empty at the start of the winter, filling up completely in just three months because of the amount of rain and snowfall.
