Georgia: heavy rains significantly damage Lagodekhi District

As a result of flooding in the Kakheti Region of Georgia, hundreds of houses were flooded; roads and bridges were washed away; in some areas a threat of collapse forced to evacuate the population.

The authorities are eliminating the flooding consequences in the Kakheti Region of Georgia. According to preliminary data, the damage caused by the flood will exceed 3 million laris (1.82 million US dollars), said Giya Gozalishvili, the chairman of self-government of the Lagodekhi District.

"Today the rain has died down; however, the water is still here. Now we are pumping water out of house basements and ground floors. People were evacuated from two high apartment buildings, as there is a threat of collapse. Water has completely smashed eight garages and the restaurant 'Nadzvebi'," said Dimitri Loladze, the head of the executive power of the municipality Lagodekhi.

A complicated situation is in the village of Kabala, Lagodekhi District, where about 500 families live. The Kabal River has overflowed its banks and flooded the village. "Water has flooded even the second level of some buildings. People want to get out of flooded houses, but cannot do it. A villager made an attempt to use his truck to escape from the disaster, but the automobile failed to overcome the water, and the driver has to swim back," Gulnaz Mamedova, a woman from Kabala, said in her interview to the "Information Centre of Kakheti".

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that the flood had also washed off the road a few meters off the checkpoint between Georgia and Azerbaijan in the area of the Lagodekhi frontier sector. Currently, the traffic along the connecting road is carried out in one direction only; therefore border crossing is complicated in both directions.