Destruction after day of storms, yellow weather warning for Monday

Sunday’s storms left parts of Cyprus reeling, leaving a fire, tornado, hail, landslides and closed roads in their wake.

The public had been cautioned there was an orange weather warning in place until 6pm, however authorities were scrambling to deal with a fire that erupted in the Mazeri area of Geraki in Nicosia, along with a whirlwind of roads too dangerous for the public to drive on.

According to the forestry department, a lightning strike caused a fire at 1:25pm where four members of the firefighting team and two fire trucks were sent to the scene.

By 2pm the flames had been obliterated and the only damage was a pine tree which was burnt to the ground.

Elsewhere across the country, a tornadic waterspout was spotted in Limassol’s Pissouri area, while Paphos and Limassol were most hard hit by the severe weather.

Landslides prompted police to warn drivers over the Platres-Troodos road as rocks and soil had made the road dangerous to drive on.

Similarly, police also issued a warning over the Limassol-Paphos highway, particularly for the Paramali, Sotira, Petra tou Romiou and Kouklia areas. Water and hail had accumulated on the roads, creating dangerous conditions for vehicles.

At 4:40pm, police warned the roads on the Avdimou-Pachna road were dangerously slippery due to a pileup of hail and water. It urged the public to drive carefully due to low visibility, and keep their blinking lights on while driving slowly.

One lane on the Mandria – Pera Pedi road was closed due to a large accumulation of water. The Gerasas – Agros road had also closed.

A yellow weather warning is in place from Sunday 6pm until Monday 6am.