State of emergency declared in Sochi due to flooding

The resort city of Sochi and the federal territory “Sirius” for the third day remain in the storm front zone with thunderstorms, tornadoes and heavy winds. About 200 residential buildings and mini-hotels in the Khostinsky and Adler districts are flooded with water at the ground floor level, cars on the streets are flooded to the roof. A state of emergency has been declared in the flooded territories, several hundred people have been taken to temporary accommodation centers. However, the managers of hotels and mini-hotels interviewed by Kommersant do not record mass booking refusals or early departures of vacationers. The attitude of those who find themselves in the disaster zone or those who are going there to not pay attention to the vagaries of the weather was also confirmed by the Association of Tour Operators of Russia.

Sochi Mayor Alexei Kopaygorodsky and the head of the federal territory (FT) “Sirius” Dmitry Plishkin announced the introduction of a state of emergency in areas affected by flooding after heavy rains. The element is raging on the Black Sea coast for the third day, powerful streams of rainwater from the mountains flood the streets of the resort town and flood buildings. Residents of Sochi on social networks share photos and videos showing the consequences of the disaster: flooded first floors of residential buildings and mini-hotels, cars flooded to the very roof, sagging asphalt on highways. In the Khostinsky district, several dozen cars were blown into a ravine by a stream of water, the cars were turned over and crumpled.

Emergency services are looking for a man who disappeared during a flood in Adler, the situation is under the control of the district prosecutor, Anton Lopatin, senior assistant to the prosecutor of the Krasnodar Territory, told Kommersant. Details of the incident were not reported by the prosecutor’s office. Local residents on Monday evening filmed the situation when a man who could not swim was caught in a powerful current on the street, but they managed to save him.

According to local authorities, more than 200 households were flooded as a result of volley rains, the Mirny settlement of the Sirius federal territory was especially affected.

Employees of the Ministry of Emergency Situations take people out on boats and deliver them to temporary accommodation points. According to the latest data, 240 people were evacuated from the affected areas. In the village of Mirny, medical care centers have been deployed, food distribution has been organized. Employees of the administration of the FT “Sirius” and the resort city of Sochi began door-to-door rounds to determine the damage.

For three days, employees of emergency services and municipal organizations of Sochi and the federal territory “Sirius” have been working to eliminate the consequences of the disaster. In flood zones, water is pumped out and garbage is collected, power engineers are eliminating power outages. On the federal highway A-147 on the section Adler-Veseloe traffic is suspended due to flooding of the roadway, restoration work is underway. Mudflow came down on another section of the road, now this part of the road has already been cleared.

The elements have made adjustments to the work of Sochi airport: on Sunday, 17 aircraft left for alternate airfields due to adverse weather. On Monday, the weather improved, the aircraft arrived at the Sochi airport. The airport operates according to the actual weather, the press service of the airport told Kommersant.

Since July 9, all the beaches of Sochi and Sirius have been closed for swimming due to a strong storm. For the next few days, data city ​​hall, the weather forecast is unfavorable.

Powerful downpours with thunderstorms, hail and squally winds are predicted in Sochi. The danger of formation of tornadoes over the sea remains. Residents and visitors to the city are advised to exercise caution and follow the messages of emergency services.

Managers of hotels and mini-hotels interviewed by Kommersant do not record mass booking refusals or early departures of vacationers. “Flooding is an unpleasant situation that spoils the impression of the resort, a certain number of guests leave, but this is not critical. Such situations happen regularly in Sochi, we are used to it,” Yevgeny Bromberg, managing partner of the hotel operator Undersun, commented on the situation to Kommersant. The bad weather in Sochi and Abkhazia did not lead to a mass departure of tourists or their refusal of planned trips, Sergey Romashkin, vice president of the Association of Tour Operators of Russia, confirmed to Kommersant: “We received calls with questions about the possibility of canceling bookings, but these intentions were brought to the end were not. Tourists hope that the situation will be resolved and the planned vacation will take place.”

Aleksey Kopaygorodsky instructed the city’s sanatorium and resort complex to coordinate the movement of tourist groups. According to the mayor’s office, tourists staying in mini-hotels in the Khostinsky district and “Sirius” are sent to temporary accommodation points along with local residents. “If you cannot return home due to flooding or are forced to evacuate, you can contact the Omega, Delta and Gamma Sirius hotels, where temporary accommodation centers have been deployed,” the Sirius FT administration said in a statement.

Mr. Romashkin explained that the terrain on which Sochi is located contributes to a rapid decrease in water levels, the main issues are reduced to garbage collection. In Abkhazia, the situation is more complicated: due to the flat area between Gagra and Pitsunda, the water level remains high. “The first floors of several hotels are flooded, they have relocated tourists higher, but they cannot provide food,” Mr. Romashkin says. In this case, major tour operators, he said, offer guests the opportunity to move to other hotels without additional payments, but such applications are few.

The expert adds that the current sales of tours to Sochi and Abkhazia are 15% higher than on Monday last week.

“A short-term decline in demand could occur, but in any case it is offset by an increase in sales characteristic of the peak season, so tour operators do not see it,” argues Sergey Romashkin.

Anna Perova, Krasnodar; Alexandra Mertsalova