22 September 2009, 17:00
Over 500 houses flooded in Dagestan by pouring rains
In the Kizilyurt District of Dagestan and in the city of Derbent the recent downpours have flooded more than 500 houses. Because of incessant rains, in a number of villages of the Sergokalin District, rivers have overflowed the banks and flooded power substations, transmission lines and transformers.
In Derbent, in the area of the railway station, 46 cars and 11 houses were flooded. Two cemeteries, located above and below the "Kavkaz" Federal Highway, were completely washed off by rainwater. Besides, basements were flooded in 110 apartment houses. The restoration is made mainly by townspeople themselves. The authorities are counting the material damage, as the "Rosbalt" Agency reports.
Because of a strong downpour, which began back on September 20 in the evening, earth flows appeared, running from the mountains to the sea; therefore, practically all the lower part of the city was flooded.
In the Kizilyurt District, the flooding zone has covered the settlement of Komsomolskiy (127 houses) and the village of Kulzeb (300 houses). The "Regnum" reports no casualties, but partial destructions of many houses.
Dagestan has not seen such floods since 1881, as weather forecasters evidence. Rains looked like a wall of water and were incessant for the last five days in the lowland Dagestan - from Khasavyurt to Derbent. Nobody could assume in the first days that just bad weather would grow into calamity, the "Interfax" reports. The nationwide state of emergency has been announced.
