News / Russia

One killed in Russia's Sochi flash flooding

Friday, 26 June 2015 12:52 AM [ Last Update: Friday, 26 June 2015 12:53 AM ]

The Sochi International Airport is seen in this photo after flash floods hit the Russian resort city on June 25, 2015.

Flash floods in the Russian resort city of Sochi have claimed the life of a man, officials say.

According to the Russian authorities on Thursday, the body of a man in his forties, who appeared to have drowned due to the heavy flooding, was discovered in the district of Adler, on the outskirts of Sochi.

The heavy flooding in the city, which hosted the 2014 Winter Olympics,has destroyed approximately 400 homes and cut off transport links. Russia had spent an estimated USD 50 billion (45 billion euros) to construct facilities and infrastructure to host the Winter Olympics in the city.

A state of emergency has been declared in the Black Sea city, and rescue teams from other parts of the county have been called up to deal with the natural disaster, Russia’s Ministry of Emergency Situations said.

Reports say that an equivalent of two months of rain was dumped on the city in just 14 hours.

"The Kherota river overflowed its banks, the train station was flooded and train services had to be suspended," Sochi's mayor, Anatoly Pakhomov, said, adding that as many as 2,000 people were stranded at the city's airport, which was under one meter of water.

IA/MHB/SS

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