Storm Harry and additional high winds and waves which have hit the island in the last two weeks of January have affected many local residents and business owners. The hardest hit were the businesses at Marsascala Seafront, and the quaint bay of Għar Lapsi where all the swimming infrastructure and passages within 50m of the sea were destroyed. A dive centre at Sliema waterfront was also completely wiped out. Even the marine reserve islet of Filfla was not spared.
With BLUE the buoy operated by the University of Malta’s Oceanography Research Group registering a peak wave height of over 13m during Harry’s peak hours at 10:00 on the 20 January 2026, the destruction was inevitable.
Starting the cleanup, but the sea strikes again
Over the last days, multiple cleanups by Żibel, Coast is Clear and Raniero’s Adventures and their friends have already recovered tonnes of material from the sea, with cleanups expected to continue on an ongoing basis.
But the sea has not been kind so far, with a freak wave last Monday claiming the life of a Polish 13-year old girl who was sightseeing the waves crashing at South Quay, Cirkewwa, despite according to reports that she was well away from the coast. Her body was recovered two days later by Civil Protection Department in a small window of opportunity on Wednesday morning. That’s the ultimate price paid for a person’s love of the sea… too costly, but can we help it? Our thoughts are with its family and we extend our condelences.
Assessing the damage
Divers have flagged damages in various diving sites, where although it is the quiet time of the year, infrastructure is still needed for the local divers and those fleeing freezing weather further North. These included loose or bent railings, ladders and other infrastructure. At the popular diving site of Ras il-Ħobż in Gozo, a huge patch of dirty water was also visible from the distance close to shore which indicated that the storm could also have potentially damaged the wastewater infrastructure of the processing plant nearby.
The Professional Diving Schools Association has announced it is reviewing diving infrastructure damages and working with Malta Tourism Authority’s contractors to sort them out as fast as possible. If you have anything to report, kindly send an email to secretary@pdsa.org.mt.
We also remind you that you can report anonymously via our own divinginfo.mt reporting form. We pass on reports to authorities in Malta & Gozo within 24 hours normally.