After the severe storm that hit Kavadarci and part of the settlements in the municipality, more than 70 people and around 30 vehicles and machines have been on the ground since the early morning - tankers, waste collection and transport vehicles, municipal and other machinery.

The coordinated operation involves Kavadarci municipality through its "My Municipal Officer" service, the municipal utility company, the local firefighting unit, the Protection and Rescue Directorate and the interior ministry through the Kavadarci police.

Crews are pumping out floodwater, washing and cleaning streets, pavements and public areas, removing mud, debris, waste and fallen branches, clearing roadways and repairing damage. Priority goes to the critical points and to buildings where there is a safety risk.

In parallel, teams and machinery have been sent to the villages as well - to clear local roads and streets and remove debris. According to the plan, all reported critical points in the villages should be covered by tomorrow.

What the response does not cover

The mobilisation is fast and that deserves saying. Seventy people on the ground from first light is no small thing for a municipality the size of Kavadarci.

But pumping out water is a response to a consequence. The question every storm like this leaves behind is why the water collects in the same places at all - whether the drainage channels were cleared before the season, whether the grates are clear, whether the storm drainage is sized for the volumes that now fall in a single hour.

That is not a question for the crews who have been out since six in the morning. It is a question for the plan that should have been made before the storm.

The municipality says the interventions will continue in the coming days until the consequences are fully cleared, and appeals to residents not to obstruct the crews at sites where work is still under way.