Heavy rain causes flooding in Georgia’s seaside towns
By Tea Mariamidze
Thursday, August 27
Nearly 24-hour heavy rain and storm caused flooding in Batumi and Poti, Black Sea cities in the west part of Georgia on August 25-26.
In Batumi, mostly the houses and objects in the coastal part were affected, as well as the railway station and bus station. Dozens of streets and shops were also damaged.
The main road was blocked in the direction of Sarpi due to several landslides.
The intense rain caused flooding on the streets, where drainage canals have not been rehabilitated. The canals failed to pass the water and the accumulated water flew into the basements and ground floors of the houses and damaging the infrastructure in the streets and household appliances in the houses.
In several houses, the foundation was damaged and the inhabitants were evacuated by rescue squad members.
The situation became so complicated that additional rescue groups had to be called from Imereti, Samegrelo and Tbilisi.
According to the member of Batumi rescue squad, Zviad Japaridze, water pumping works are still in progress and the streets are partially cleaned.
“Water remains only in the yards and basements. We are doing our best to react to every call in order to help the population,” he stated.
A storm of magnitude four was observed at the sea shore too. The disaster affected food stores and other objects in the area.
Poti suffered in much the same way. Due to the heavy rain, main roads and dozens of houses are flooded.
The disaster damaged electricity stations and for several hours there was a power cut in certain districts of Poti.
The citizens say that such floods are frequent, for the water drain canals and pumping systems are faulty and are in need of renovation.
Heavy rain also occurred in the Anaklia resort zone and the Zugdidi region. The rain damaged one of the main power transmission lines, which caused the power cut in 11 villages of the region.
The damage has not been counted in the disaster zones yet.
According to the local officials, the losses will be counted after the problems are solved
There is no information if the affected population will receive compensation from the government.
