Five magnitude storm hits Adjara
By Tea Mariamidze
Thursday, September 25
People have been evacuated from their houses in Kobuleti. A powerful storm is hitting Georgia’s western Adjara and Guria regions where heavy rain and wind is causing havoc on infrastructure.
The magnitude five storm struck the Adjara region on September 24. However, the weather has been bad in the area for the past three days, causing flooding in Batumi and some other areas in the Adjara region. There is a threat of repeated flooding in the city.
Trees have been uprooted in Khelvachauri and Kobuleti.
Classes have been suspended due to a natural disaster in the villages in the Shemokmedi, Ozurgeti, and Guria regions. Water flowed into the schools, IPN reports.
"Children and teachers were evacuated from the school in the morning. Rescuers took them out of the building holding them in their arms. We have never had such flooding," the school principal said.
According to the EPG Ozurgeti Service Center director, no electricity is being supplied to the villages of Shemokmedi and Makvaneti.
The situation is also grave in the village of Tskhemliskhidi, while in Chokhatauri a road leading to the Nabeghlavi factory was flooded.
According to the region’s government, they are ready to cope with the disaster
"Heavy rain and wind caused trees to fall down in Batumi, Khelvachauri, Kobuleti and Machakhela,” said Mamuka Turmanidze, head of the Emergency Centre in Batumi. He informed that emergency services are mobilized at the seaside zone.
“If the storm gets worse, strong waves would churn up the seafloor and wash sediment ashore along the coastline,” he said. The mobile groups are being coordinated by the Interior Ministry’s emergency headquarters.
The president’s administration has informed that Giorgi Margvelashvili has had telephone contact with the Adjara government and is receiving direct information about the situation there.
According to the weather forecast, rainy weather is expected in the region again on September 25-26.
