[h=3]By RICHARD BOUDREAUX[/h]MOSCOW — Torrential rains set off flash floods and landslides along Russia's Black Sea coast, killing at least 150 people and forcing thousands to flee their homes in the region's worst natural disaster in decades, officials said Saturday.
The severe weather, which sent muddy water rushing through homes and over the hoods of cars, forced the port in Novorossiisk, Russia's biggest on the Black Sea, to halt shipments of crude oil and grain. Railway service to and from the port was halted after water rose above the rails.
Agence France-Presse/Getty ImagesA photo taken Friday and released by Russia's Interior Ministry shows the flooded seafront of the city of Gelendzhik.
The Interior Ministry put the two-day death toll at 139 in the town of Krymsk and two in Novorossiisk. Another nine were reported dead in the coastal resort town of Gelendzhik, five of them electrocuted after a transformer fell into the water, the state news agency RIA-Novosti said.
The area, in the Krasnodar region 750 miles (1,200 kilometers) south of Moscow, is frequently battered by seasonal rains. But the region's governor, Alexander Tkachev, said the disaster "came as a shock to us."
"No one can remember such floods in our history," he said while touring flooded areas, according to the ITAR-Tass news agency. "There was nothing of the kind for the last 70 years. More than 5,000 households were hit."
The flooding was a blow to Gelendzhik's resort area at the height of the vacation season. Vladimir Ustinov, the presidential envoy to the region, said losses throughout the area could exceed $30 million.
Television footage showed residents of the largely rural flood zone wading or boating through waist-deep water, past overturned trucks and cars, or taking refuge on their roofs or in trees.
Helicopters evacuated people from Krymsk, where water levels rose 13 feet (4 meters) overnight.
President Vladimir Putin was receiving frequent reports from a crisis center in the region, his spokesman said. More than 1,500 personnel of the government's Emergency Ministry were dispatched to help flood victims and clean up the damage, according to state television.
Officials said 7,100 children were at holiday camps in the area, and more than 450 were evacuated.
The severe weather, which sent muddy water rushing through homes and over the hoods of cars, forced the port in Novorossiisk, Russia's biggest on the Black Sea, to halt shipments of crude oil and grain. Railway service to and from the port was halted after water rose above the rails.
Agence France-Presse/Getty ImagesA photo taken Friday and released by Russia's Interior Ministry shows the flooded seafront of the city of Gelendzhik.
The Interior Ministry put the two-day death toll at 139 in the town of Krymsk and two in Novorossiisk. Another nine were reported dead in the coastal resort town of Gelendzhik, five of them electrocuted after a transformer fell into the water, the state news agency RIA-Novosti said.
The area, in the Krasnodar region 750 miles (1,200 kilometers) south of Moscow, is frequently battered by seasonal rains. But the region's governor, Alexander Tkachev, said the disaster "came as a shock to us."
"No one can remember such floods in our history," he said while touring flooded areas, according to the ITAR-Tass news agency. "There was nothing of the kind for the last 70 years. More than 5,000 households were hit."
The flooding was a blow to Gelendzhik's resort area at the height of the vacation season. Vladimir Ustinov, the presidential envoy to the region, said losses throughout the area could exceed $30 million.
Television footage showed residents of the largely rural flood zone wading or boating through waist-deep water, past overturned trucks and cars, or taking refuge on their roofs or in trees.
Helicopters evacuated people from Krymsk, where water levels rose 13 feet (4 meters) overnight.
President Vladimir Putin was receiving frequent reports from a crisis center in the region, his spokesman said. More than 1,500 personnel of the government's Emergency Ministry were dispatched to help flood victims and clean up the damage, according to state television.
Officials said 7,100 children were at holiday camps in the area, and more than 450 were evacuated.