English
About 30 patients were treated yesterday for injuries caused by the powerful storm that hit Skopje and other parts of Macedonia. Several of the patients sustained serious injuries, and the rest are lightly injured, from falls, traffic accidents and flying debris.
One foreign tourist suffered a collarbone injury from a fallen tree, but did not require hospitalization.
Wind speeds reached 130 kilometers per hour on Monday afternoon, and even though the gust was brief – about half an hour – it caused intense damage, toppling hundreds of trees and carrying away dozens of tin roofs.
Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski today said that the Government will not let the mayors and the citizens handle the problems themselves, and that they will receive all the necessary assistance. “I congratulate to the mayors and the local institutions, who worked during the night, with high morale, to repair all the damages. They were well prepared and will continue to work in the comin days, said the Prime Minister, adding that the citizens who sustained material damages will be reimbursed.
Skopje Mayor Orce Gjorgjievski said that the city institutions will make estimates of all the damages, including on homes where roofs were blown away, and will reimburse them. Gjorgjievski said that the city will also inspect the reason for the damages, to determine whether there was proper maintenance being done.
This was a storm the likes of which we have not seen in decades. The mayors of the city are coordinatign their activities, as does the Crisis Center and we are constantly on the ground, said Gjorgjievski.