Floods Across Albania Kill One, Force Evacuations and Spark Protests Over Infrastructure

The rain had stopped in the Ish-Këneta neighborhood of Durrës, but the water had not gone anywhere.

By mid-January—days after heavy storms first hit Albania’s Adriatic coast—streets in this low-lying district were still covered by brown, stagnant water. Families picked their way along improvised paths of concrete blocks and wooden pallets. In some yards, the water line on ground-floor walls reached halfway up the windows.

A few kilometers away, in front of Durrës City Hall, protesters held up hand-painted banners. One read, “Uji na mbyt, korrupsioni sundon”—“Water is drowning us, corruption rules.” Others demanded, “Gjendje e jashtëzakonshme tani,” or “State of emergency now.”

Their anger followed more than a week of flooding that has swept across much of Albania since Jan. 6, killing at least one person, forcing hundreds from their homes and exposing long-standing weaknesses in the country’s infrastructure and disaster preparedness.

Flooding spreads nationwide

The January floods, fueled by days of intense winter rain, have inundated cities and villages from the northern plain of Shkodër and Lezhë to the southern counties of Fier, Vlorë and Gjirokastër, and eastward to the highlands of Korçë. While the government has deployed soldiers and emergency crews, critics say the scale of damage points to chronic problems with drainage systems, river embankments and urban planning in one of Europe’s most flood-prone countries.

Authorities say one man has died in the floods so far. A 55-year-old municipal worker from Durrës who went missing on Tuesday was found Thursday, Jan. 8, in a drainage canal on the edge of the city. Police said he likely had been swept away by floodwaters while on duty. The death was reported by local media and confirmed by police and emergency services.

By then, the impact of the storm was already national.

The Institute of Geosciences, Albania’s main meteorological and hydrological authority, had warned on Jan. 5 that “high-intensity rainfall” in the north and south could trigger flash floods, landslides and “dangerous increases in river flows” in the Drin-Buna, Mat, Shkumbin and Vjosa basins through Jan. 8. Heavy rain began the next day, overwhelming drainage networks in Durrës and Lezhë and pushing rivers in multiple regions toward or over flood stage.

Durrës hit early; evacuations begin

In Durrës, Albania’s main port and second-largest city, torrents of water turned underpasses and main roads into shallow lakes. Neighborhoods including Spitallë, Nishtulla and Ish-Këneta—built largely on former marshland—were among the earliest and worst hit. Local officials closed schools, and by the evening of Jan. 6 at least eight families had been evacuated from flooded homes to temporary shelters managed by the Interior Ministry.

Defence Minister Pirro Vengu said the government had activated its civil protection mechanism and deployed army units with pumps and heavy equipment, initially focusing on Durrës and Lezhë. In a series of updates, the Ministry of Defence later said more than 500 soldiers and dozens of vehicles were working alongside local authorities across the country to evacuate residents, clear debris and shore up riverbanks.

As the rain continued, the flooding shifted from city streets to river plains.

Rivers overtop embankments from north to south

In the north, the Drin-Buna system spilled into low-lying farmland near Shkodër and Lezhë, covering what the ministry described as “thousands of hectares” of agricultural land and surrounding dozens of homes. The village of Obot—hit severely in 2009 and 2010—again saw its access road submerged under about 60 centimeters of water, requiring army vehicles to maintain access.

Further down the coast, the Drojë River embankment cracked near Kurbin in Lezhë County, sending water into the villages of Adriatik, Fushë Kuqe, Golem and Patok. Local authorities reported dozens of homes and large fields under water. Emergency crews and private contractors deployed excavators and trucks to repair the embankment and reinforce it with stone and soil.

In the southwest, the Vjosa River—one of Europe’s last major wild rivers—swelled dramatically as rain and upstream inflows gathered pace. At Novoselë in Vlorë County, water levels rose above 8 meters, prompting the evacuation of at least 13 families by boat. Near Ferras in Fier County, Deputy Prime Minister Belinda Balluku said the Vjosa had struck and partially overtopped a protective embankment.

“All families at risk have been evacuated,” Balluku told reporters at the site. She said the main structure remained stable but acknowledged significant flooding of nearby land.

In the southeast, attention turned to the Devoll River and the Maliq plain near Korçë. On Jan. 9 and 10, sections of the Devoll embankment in Maliq failed, sending water across roughly 3,600 hectares of farmland in the area known as Fusha e Maliqit. Video from the scene showed fields transformed into a broad, shallow lake, with tractor tracks disappearing into the water.

The power distribution operator OSHEE said embankment damage, landslides and downed lines left about 1,800 electricity subscribers without power across the municipalities of Korçë, Maliq, Pogradec and Kolonjë. Roads were also hit: local officials reported washed-out sections near Pogradec where the Verdova River had eroded the roadside, and landslides on rural routes, complicating repair work.

The Ministry of Defence’s national bulletin on Jan. 8 summarized the situation as “intense rainfall” that had “raised river levels in several regions, causing flooding of agricultural land and residential areas, landslides, infrastructure damage, and road blockages.” It listed Shkodër, Lezhë, Durrës, Fier, Berat and Gjirokastër among the most affected counties and urged citizens to “avoid unnecessary movements” in risky areas.

Emergency shelters hosted about 300 people at the peak of the flooding, according to government figures reported in Albanian media. Classes were disrupted in 54 schools nationwide, including 12 in Durrës, mainly because of flooded facilities or blocked access roads.

Political fallout and a criminal probe

Even as water levels began to slowly recede in some areas, political tensions rose.

Opposition leaders from the Democratic Party and other groups accused Prime Minister Edi Rama’s government of failing to maintain critical drainage infrastructure and river embankments, and of ignoring expert warnings about construction in flood-prone zones. They called on the government to declare a nationwide state of emergency—or “natural disaster” situation—which under Albanian law can unlock special funds and compensation schemes for affected residents.

“Isn’t it time to declare a state of emergency?” Democratic Party spokesperson Jola Hysaj asked in a televised statement from a flooded street in Durrës. Former Prime Minister Sali Berisha claimed the government was avoiding such a declaration to limit its legal obligations to compensate citizens, a charge the government has not accepted.

Rama pushed back on social media, arguing that Albania was facing the same extreme weather battering other countries in the region. Posting images of floods in Italy, Greece, Montenegro and Croatia alongside those from Albania, he mocked critics who blamed his government for the rainfall.

“I don’t understand why they’re not blaming me yet for the rains in Italy, Greece, Montenegro, Croatia…” he wrote, in a post that drew sharp criticism from opposition figures and some commentators, who said it downplayed local responsibilities.

Civil society organizations and independent analysts have focused less on the political exchanges and more on what they describe as structural weaknesses. In articles and interviews, urban planners and engineers pointed to aging and poorly maintained drainage networks—especially in cities like Durrës where former wetlands have been heavily built up—as well as construction on river plains and insufficiently robust embankments.

Experts noted that while the rainfall was strong, it was not unprecedented for the season, and argued that prolonged waterlogging in urban neighborhoods reflected inadequate stormwater systems rather than the storm alone.

State prosecutors in Durrës have opened an investigation into possible “abuse of office and negligence” related to the floods, including whether public officials or contractors failed to properly maintain drainage channels, pumping stations or embankments. No suspects have been publicly named, and officials have said the probe is at an early stage.

Climate risk and the cost of prevention

The January floods come as international financial institutions warn of rising climate and disaster risks in Albania and the wider Western Balkans. The World Bank has described Albania as one of Europe’s most disaster-exposed countries, with nearly one major natural disaster per year and average losses equivalent to about 1.3% of annual economic output. It estimates the country will need around $6 billion over the next decade to strengthen infrastructure and systems against floods, landslides, wildfires and other climate-related hazards.

Regional studies suggest that river floods already account for most of the damage to Albania’s primary road network and cost tens of millions of euros each year, hitting both urban hubs and agricultural areas like Maliq, the Vjosa plain and the Drin-Buna delta.

On the ground, those numbers translate into people scrubbing mud from shop floors, farmers surveying drowned fields and students waiting for schools to reopen.

In Durrës, as pumps slowly lowered the water level in Ish-Këneta, residents stacked ruined furniture and appliances on the roadside. Some said this was the second or third time in a decade their homes had been flooded.

“This happens every few years now,” one man told a local television crew, standing in front of a line of damp, peeling walls. “We clean, we repair, and then it comes again.”

With investigations under way, embankments being patched and weather forecasts improving, attention is shifting to what happens after the water recedes: how damage will be assessed, how quickly assistance will reach those affected, and whether this latest flood will prompt deeper changes to how Albania plans and builds in an era of increasingly volatile weather.