TIRANA, March 22 (Xinhua) -- Albania was engulfed by heavy rainfalls and stormy winds on Thursday while northern areas of the country were covered by snow.
The snow reached 10 centimeters while police asked drivers to show extreme caution in the streets due to strong winds and frost.
In Kukes, the snowfall continued throughout the day at high intensity, while the temperatures went down to minus 4 degrees Celsius.
The Nation Road, one of the main highways, was covered by snow and ice too, however the traffic was not disrupted as the police and local authorities kept cleaning it.
Meanwhile, the stormy winds caused great damage to the businesses alongside Nation Road.
A huge massive of rock fell on a fuel station, totally destroying it while in Bulqiza, north Albania, a truck was turned upside down following a storm.
There have been interruptions with electricity in rural areas, but no emergencies reported.
Due to ongoing rainfalls across the country, many areas have been flooded. Northern city of Shkodra remains the hardest-stricken zone where tens of houses have been completely flooded and thousands of acres of land are still under water.
Albanian Minister of Defense Olta Xhacka went to Shkodra Thursday to inspect situation there.
She announced that the ministry had deployed over 550 military personnel to help locals cope with situation created by floods.
She said that the life of citizens and rescue of livestock were key priority. In last ten days, she said that over 2,500 livestock heads were evacuated while she noted that more animal food would be sent soon to farmers in the flood hit zones.
The minister called for more cooperation between all state structures and residents in order to mitigate the effects of the floods.
On Wednesday, Shkodra Mayor asked the government to declare state of emergency in this zone but this request was not accepted.
Government officials said they were doing everything to keep situation under control while they assured citizens that soon after situation was normalized, civil emergencies staff and local authorities would start work on verification of damages so they could be compensated.
