By Abdullahi Lukman
Severe flooding affected large parts of Kosovo last week after prolonged and intense rainfall caused rivers to overflow, inundating cities, towns and villages and forcing emergency rescues.
Authorities said communities were cut off and emergency services rescued residents trapped in their homes.
Floodwaters entered electrical substations in the municipalities of Drenas, Malisheva and Rahovec, disrupting electricity and water supplies.
Weather data showed exceptionally heavy rainfall across the south-west of Kosovo. Personal weather stations recorded more than 50mm of rain within 24 hours on Tuesday and Wednesday, with some areas of Malisheva receiving up to 80mm.
This followed several days of earlier downpours, during which official stations in Junik and Gllogjan measured 231.5mm and 151.6mm respectively over two days.
A further 130mm fell around Junik on Tuesday, worsening flooding and triggering landslides.
Meanwhile, Storm Goretti brought severe weather to western Europe.
The UK Met Office issued a red warning for violent winds across Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly on Thursday evening, with gusts nearing 100mph in parts of south-west England.
The storm, named by Meteo-France, was particularly destructive in north-western France, where wind gusts exceeded 80mph.
Gusts of up to 132mph were recorded in Normandy and 94mph in Brittany, while strong winds reaching 65mph were reported as far inland as Paris.
Coastal flood warnings were also issued in north-western France, with wave heights of 6 to 9 metres forecast along northern Brittany and storm surges of up to 1.5 metres expected at high tide.
Storm Goretti is forecast to move eastward into mainland Europe over the weekend.
While winds are expected to gradually weaken, forecasters warn of possible blizzard conditions and significant snowfall across parts of Germany and the Benelux region.
