Storm Harry might have caught many of us off guard, but it’s far from the first time Malta has been battered by extreme weather. A quick look through the records via Malta's National Archives shows that the islands have faced some seriously intense storms over the past 50 years, with a couple of them making Harry look almost tame.

On Monday 16 January 1978, Malta was hit by 36.4mm of rain in just 18 hours, alongside maximum wind gusts of 61 knots. That places the storm at Force 11 (Violent Storm) on the Beaufort scale, even stronger than the Force 10 winds brought by Storm Harry yesterday.

Newspaper reports from the time describe ceilings collapsing in four blocks of flats in Floriana, incredibly without any casualties. The Addolorata Cemetery also suffered extensive damage, with century-old trees uprooted and falling onto tombstones, cracking many of them. Xarolla Windmill in Żurrieq wasn’t spared either, sustaining significant structural damage.

The late 1970s were particularly unforgiving. Just a year later, on Thursday 25 October 1979, Malta experienced another devastating storm that tragically claimed four lives. Torrential rain turned streets into rivers, flooded homes and left people trapped inside cars as water levels rapidly rose.

Stories like these – along with the damage many are waking up to today – are a stark reminder of just how powerful nature can be, and why severe weather warnings should never be taken lightly.

How did Storm Harry affect you?