Environmentalists associate consequences of flood in Chuberi with deforestation

The situation in the Georgian village of Chuberi, which suffered from a flood, has nothing to do with the construction of a hydroelectric power plant (HPP) in the Nenskra River, the company-builder of the HPP has stated. In their turn, environmentalists have suggested that the consequences of the flooding are associated with a large-scale deforestation.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on July 5, as a result of a flood, bridges and roads leading to Chuberi were demolished and destroyed; some village houses were flooded. Local residents have suggested that the flood was associated with the HPP construction.

According to the statement of the Open Joint-Stock Company (OJSC) "Nenskra HPP", since the start of 2018, all the preparatory works for building the HPP have been completely stopped, the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent reported on July 6.

"These works involved only the restoration of existing roads and bridges; and the natural disaster (flood) occurred 5 km down the river from the construction site. Accordingly, the current situation has nothing to do with the construction of the Nenskra HPP," says the statement of the OJSC.

Mamuka Bakhtadze, the Prime Minister of Georgia, who visited the disaster zone yesterday, on July 6, associated the flood with abundant rainfall and deforestation.

"According to initial estimates, this was caused by heavy rainfall; however, systematic deforestation has also contributed to," the "Sputnik-Georgia" has quoted the Premier as saying today.

Rezo Getiashvili, an activist of the ecological NGO CENN, drew attention to the fact that uncontrolled deforestation is a serious problem for the region.

"Of course, the natural calamity and uncontrolled deforestation are directly interconnected; we've long been sounding the alarm by stating that uncontrolled deforestation leads to disasters," Mr Getiashvili told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent on July 6.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on July 7, 2018 at 08:20 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.