Tag Archives: floods

Georgia investigates the cause of flood

JUNE 20 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – TBILISI — Georgia’s government launched an investigation into the causes of a flood this month that killed at least 20 people, injured dozens more, flooded the city’s zoo and destroyed hundreds of buildings.

Local pressure groups, though, criticised the authorities for their slow response to the worst natural disaster to hit Tbilisi in living memory. This criticism could sting the ruling Georgian Dream coalition and damage their already fragile public support.

Nick Davitashvili, from the environmental activist group Guerilla Gardening Tbilisi, said: “The response by the government left a lot to be desired. Volunteers had to take on part of the relief efforts.”

Muddy, destroyed cars still lay around Heroes Square in the centre of the city more than week after the flood on June 14.

Immediately after the flood, thousands of volunteers shovelled mud and donated clothes and medicine to tho. The government, though, has now said that volunteers’ role is over.

“The risks are increasing and we are worried about the young people,” PM Irakli Garibahsvili said.

The ministry of environment has said that it is looking into setting up an early warning system for future disasters but the Caucasus Environmental NGO Network, the country’s largest environmental NGO said that this was an attempt to deflect responsibility for the flood.

“No disaster threat analysis, or preventive measures, have been conducted in Tbilisi for 15 years,” it said in a statement.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 237, published on June 25 2015)

River floods, kills 19 people and destroys zoo in Georgia

JUNE 14 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) -At least 19 people died after flash floods hit Tbilisi, smashing into houses, ripping up road and destroying city’s zoo

Torrential rain turned a small creek that runs through the city into a wild, uncontrollable river. It burst its banks and swept along recently paved and concreted areas into residential parts of Tbilisi.

Several animals escaped the flooded zoo, including lions, tigers, bears and panthers but dozens others died. A cornered tiger reportedly attacked and killed a man in a flooded warehouse on June 17. Police later shot dead the tiger.

The authorities ordered people to stay inside until they had re-captured all the animals. Video showed a hippo roaming through central Tbilisi before being hit with a tranquilliser dart and brought under control.

The carcasses of dead lions, bears and deer floated through flooded streets, past smashed cars caked with mud and houses missing walls.

This was one of the worst natural disaster to hit Tbilisi in living memory.

PM Irakli Garibashvili said around 200 people lost their homes and that the cost of repairing the city would be around 50m euro.

But the damage to Georgia’s prestige may be worse. People were quick to portion blame for the floods, many saying poor construction work had destroyed the river’s run-off area.

Nana Janashia, director of the Caucasus Environmental NGO Network (CENN), also said the non-existence of an emergency plan was also a problem.

“This was absolutely predictable and is the result of high rain precipitation, human impact and poor infrastructures dating back to Soviet times,” she said.

Others blamed former president Mikheil Saakashvili who initiated the construction of the new highway. In a 2009 article, the magazine Liberali said the construction of the highway could lead to potential disastrous floods.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 236, published on June 18 2015)

Floods hit central Kazakhstan

APRIL 15 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – A rise in snowmelt, triggered by an increase in temperatures, has caused rivers to burst their banks, media reported. The Karaganda oblast’s emergency department said nearly 2,000 homes had been flooded.
ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 227, published on April 15 2015)

Floods hit south Tajikistan

MAY 7 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Floods have heavily damaged parts of southern Tajikistan, along the border with Afghanistan, media reported. The Afghan side has been far worse effected with reports saying that a mudslide hit a village killing several hundred people. In Tajikistan, reports said that hundreds of families in remote villages had been cut off.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 184, published on May 14 2014)

Flood kills five in Kazakhstan

APRIL 1 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — A dam in central Kazakhstan burst, flooding downstream villages and killing five people. The accident underlines the need to improve Kazakhstan’s Soviet built infrastructure.

(News report from Issue No. 178, published on April 2 2014)

Flooding in Georgia kills 5

MAY 12 2012 (The Conway Bulletin) – Five people died in Tbilisi after heavy rain caused a canal to overflow and flood a suburb of the town. The deaths highlight the poor housing, likened by some local media to slums, which some Tbilisi residents live in. News agencies had earlier reported that the Mtkvari River, that runs through central Tbilisi, had flooded but the authorities denied this.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 088, published on May 18 2012)