Natural disaster hits western Georgia
By Tea Mariamidze
Monday, July 11
Severe rainfall in western Georgia caused floods which damaged houses and agricultural land, killed cattle and poultry and destroyed infrastructure in the Adjara, Imereti, Samegrelo-Zemo Svaneti and Guria regions.
Streets in Batumi in Adjara region were flooded, while basements and the lower floors of dozens of houses were also full of water.
The landslide occurred near the tunnel on the main road connecting Batumi with Kobuleti, but the area was soon cleared.
Five families were evacuated and 320 houses remain isolated as the result of the flood in the Shuakhevi Municipality of the Adjara region. Bad weather also affected the Vani Municipality in the Imereti region. The central road was destroyed by the river in the village of Sulor and about 150 residents remain cut off.
In addition, two citizens died a few days ago: 18-year-old Mikheil Berishvili and Elguja Jamrishvili, tried in vain to save the teenager.
Prime Minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili and members of the government visited disaster-hit regions and met with local residents and promised the fast restoration of damaged infrastructure. The head of the Government emphasized that relevant machinery would be delivered soon to the village to implement cleaning and restoration works.
According to Kvirikashvili, the disaster was quite large-scale and left quite severe consequences in terms of infrastructure.
“It was a very large-scale disaster with quite severe results regarding infrastructural damage…Fortunately, there is no human casualty. As soon as the roads dry out, we will begin works to restore the damaged infrastructure,” he stated.
The Prime Minister instructed government officials to visit all disaster-affected regions in order to coordinate the activities on the ground.
According to the Governmental Administration, all relevant departments and local government representatives are working to restore the region to normal.
Work in the affected areas is in progress and the financial cost of the damage is being calculated.
