Major damage to road infrastructure, household economy and agriculture has been caused in several municipalities as a result of the recent floods after heavy rains. The municipalities of Skenderaj and Mitrovica were the most affected by these floods, but considerable damage was also reported in Istog and Klinë.

Tahir Ahmeti, executive director of the Security Policy Research Center (SPRC), has stated that the state should invest in equipment that helps the country in times of disaster or when there are floods. According to him, one of the investments that would help the state in this aspect is the helicopter.

Ahmeti has told KosovaPress some of the reasons why floods occur, while he says that mainly rural areas are the most affected by floods.

"Flooding occurs mainly in rural areas, due to water coming out of riverbeds, which since the post-war have been degraded to the maximum extent by extracting gravel from those rivers. Then throwing different things into the rivers and so on, all these are some factors that cause when it rains more heavily, the water comes out of the rivers and causes floods. While in different countries there may be floods due to weak underground infrastructure, i.e. water supply and sewerage network", Ahmeti stressed.

He also listed some of the measures that the institutions should undertake before and after the floods occur.

"Floods happen everywhere in the world, they are unpredictable, and the state or institutions must always be prepared so that when they happen, they must be as ready as possible to intervene, and the priority must be to come to the aid of citizens who are at risk, because the life of the citizen must always be primary. As for the measures, before the floods, the institutions, whether central or local, should take measures by cleaning the rivers and ravines, improving the infrastructural infrastructure, while the citizens should be aware so as not to throw garbage in the ravines or rivers. Whereas, when floods or other disasters occur, institutions must form crisis teams and mobilize with firefighters, police and medical emergencies, who are the first responders, while if they cannot cope with these disasters, they can also contact The FSK, who are like second responders in our country", added Ahmeti.

According to him, the number of first responders who intervened during these last days in the areas where there were floods, was not large.

"The reaction was based on the equipment they have, the first responders, the firefighters in this case, they did their job as much as they could. The response measures depended on the tools they have but also on the number of first responders, which he thought was not as large as it should be. In this case, in some parts, we also had the involvement of the KSF, who came to the aid of the endangered citizens", said Ahmeti.

Ahmeti considers that the country's institutions should invest more in tools and equipment that serve in these cases.

"Since the post-war, the state of Kosovo has not had a single helicopter which in this case can be used, either by emergency institutions, then it can also be used by the police, the Kosovo Security Force and the state protocol. So, our institutions should invest in this, because it is very important for the state to have a helicopter, even if there is a disaster in the country where there is no access to cars or even for the evacuation of people, it is necessary for the state to do investment in this aspect, because a state needs to have these tools and equipment that can do work to help the citizens", Ahmeti said among other things

At the very end, he said that now the institutions should deal with the fabrication of damages and stay close to the citizens affected by the floods.

"For now, the institutions should deal with the fabrication of damages, the population should be helped, Skenderaj has been hit a lot, and they should stay close to the citizens as much as possible. While as long-term plans, appropriate investments should be made so that at least these floods can be reduced by taking those measures", said Ahmeti.

The Association of Kosovo Municipalities has asked the Government of Kosovo to set up an emergency fund to serve the municipalities after the damage caused by the floods and that the local institutions manage it themselves.