Two die and thousands homeless after flooding hits Russia’s Dagestan
A woman and her daughter died and 4,000 people had to be evacuated when a dam wall broke in the Russian republic of Dagestan following heavy rains, the Civil Protection Ministry reported Monday.
Around 2,000 houses were flooded in the Derbent region on the Caspian Sea. The bodies of the woman and her daughter have been found, but other people remain missing.
Makhachkala, the capital of Dagestan, was also hit by flooding, with apartment buildings in danger of collapsing, according to regional news site Golos Dagestan (Voice of Dagestan).
Video clips posted on social media showed entire buildings collapsing underwater, as well as a collapsed bridge on the Kavkaz road, which is of strategic importance to the region.
Regional authorities have set up emergency shelters and helicopters are being used. The ministry said further rain could be expected in the region, with localized downpours and winds gusting up to 120 kilometers per hour. Landslides could also be expected, according to the statement.
Heavy rains have been hitting the North Caucasus region since late March. Flooding of electricity substations led to outages in almost 20 districts of Dagestan.
A state of emergency has been declared in Makhachkala, Khasavyurt, Kaspiysk and Derbent.
The floods at the end of March led to the evacuation of more than 3,300 people, while 3,500 homes were reportedly flooded. At the time, authorities estimated the damage at the equivalent of $50 million, but that figure is now likely to be much higher.
