One hour of rain. That was all it took for Bitola to turn into a city underwater again. Flooded houses, yards and outbuildings on nine streets, rivers running through the city, mud seeping into homes. And once again the same picture: the services react once the water is already inside, not before.

A downpour hit Bitola the previous evening, between 20:40 and 21:40. Reports of flooded properties came in from Prilepska, Gjorche Petrov, Partizanska, Krste Nale, Kosta Abrashevik, Dame Gruev, Crvena Voda, Chede Filipovski-Dame and Mirche Acev streets. The crews of the public utility „Niskogradba”, together with the other municipal services and the Territorial Fire Unit, intervened to clear the drains and pump out the water.

The problem is not the rain. The problem is a system that does not work.

Experts and local politicians pointed out that the flood is not a natural disaster, but the result of systemic failures in urban planning and the maintenance of public infrastructure. The stormwater drainage is inadequate and needs an urgent overhaul. The reconstruction of Debarska street creates deposits that clog the drains. The years-long reconstruction of Kozara street destabilises the terrain and hampers drainage. Unfinished projects, poorly maintained drains - and here is the result at the first serious rain.

Gabriela Ilievska from the „Vredi” movement criticised mayor Toni Konjanovski for a superficial approach to on-the-ground work. She singled out the four-million-denar tender spending on catering services - while the infrastructure falls apart. The priorities are clear, they are just not where they should be.

This is not the first time Bitola has drowned, nor will it be the last. Every serious rain reveals the same thing: a city with no functional drainage system and an authority that reacts by pumping, not by planning. How many times does the same picture have to repeat before someone grasps that the problem isn't the clouds, but the decisions that have not been made for years?