MOSCOW — Intense flooding in the Black Sea region of southern Russia killed 103 people after torrential rains dropped nearly a foot of water, forcing many to scramble out of their beds for refuge in trees and on roofs, officials said Saturday.
Many people were asleep when the flooding hit overnight in the Krasnodar region, and the water rushed into the area around the hard-hit town of Krimsk with such speed and volume that rumors emerged that local officials had opened a nearby water reservoir. Muddy water coursed through streets and homes, in some cases high enough to flow over the hoods of cars and even as high as rooftops, according to witnesses.
People waded through waist-high water or maneuvered through streets in boats Saturday. About 5,000 residences were flooded, the Krasnodar governor was quoted as telling the Interfax news agency.
“Nobody remembers such a flood in all (of the area’s) history,” said the governor, Alexander Tkachev.
The Interior Ministry gave the death toll as 103 on Saturday evening, according to Russian news agencies. A regional ministry spokesman said earlier that at least 67 of the deaths were around Krimsk, about 750 miles south of Moscow. Five people were electrocuted in the Black Sea coastal city of Gelendzhik after a transformer fell into the water, according to state news agency RIA Novosti.
President Vladimir Putin flew to the region Saturday evening, viewing the damage from a helicopter.
State news channel Rossiya 24 showed video of area residents rescuing people in small, inflatable boats and others slogging through flooded homes.
“It came so fast!” said one woman, whose name was not given, waving an arm in frustration at the shin-deep water in her living room, where a large teddy bear sat on a sofa.
More than 11 inches of rain had fallen in Gelendzhik since the previous evening, the state meteorological service said.
Gelendzhik is on the Black Sea coast and, along with the area around it, is a popular summer vacation spot, including many children’s camps. Vice Premier Olga Golodets told RIA Novosti that about 7,100 children were at holiday camps in the area and that 459 children had to be evacuated.
The area also includes Novorossiisk, a major Black Sea port.
