Over the past night between May 28 and 29, Krushevo ended up at the top of Macedonia's rainfall statistics. In 24 hours, the town recorded 34 litres of rain per square metre - alongside the storm, hail and gales that hit the town in the morning. Beyond the rain itself, social media filled with footage of streets under sustained rainfall and dark clouds that hung over the town from the early morning hours.

The comparison with the rest of the country makes the figure even more striking. Pozharane had 8 litres, Vinica 6, Prilep 4. Skopje, Tetovo, Bitola, Mavrovi Anovi, Kriva Palanka - all in the 1-3 litres range. When one town gets four times more rain than its neighbours, that is not a statistical fluctuation. That is a local extreme event.

The Hydrometeorological Service is forecasting that unstable weather will continue into the weekend, under the influence of fresh cyclonic activity. Local downpours, thunderstorms and stronger winds - possible short but intense phenomena across the country. In other words, what happened in Krushevo may repeat, or hit somewhere else.

For Balkan readers who have been living for five years with a climate that does not remember precedents, this is no surprise. 34 litres in a single day was the kind of figure considered extraordinary in the 1980s. It is now a number that will show up several times a year. The question local councils have to answer is no longer "whether" but "when" - and whether the drainage infrastructure is ready at all for what is coming.