MOSCOW: Almost two million people in Russia and occupied Ukrainian territories were left without power on Monday after hurricane-force winds and heavy rains cut electricity lines and caused widespread flooding.
Huge waves crashed over beachside areas of Russia’s Black Sea coast, footage from social media showed, as wind speeds reached over 140 kilometres per hour in some places. At least four people were killed during the storm, according to local media.
Two bodies were found in the southern Krasnodar region of Russia, while a sailor was killed in the Kerch Strait between Crimea and Russia, AFP reported.
One man on the Russian-annexed Crimean peninsula’s southern coast was also killed, according to Oleg Kryuchkov, an adviser to the region’s Russian-installed governor, Sergei Aksyonov.
He said that the man went out to look at the waves and, unfortunately, tragically died.
Russia’s energy ministry said that nearly 1.9 million people were affected by power cuts in the southern Russian regions of Dagestan, Krasnodar, and Rostov, as well as the occupied Ukrainian territories of, Lugansk, Kherson, DonetskZaporizhzhia and Crimea.
In Crimea, one of the worst affected regions, Aksyonov said that rescuers hoped to restore electricity over the next two days.
Crimean legislator Vladimir Konstantinov said on state television that the peninsula had experienced an “armageddon”-like scenario.
He said that old-timers cannot remember this kind of wind and waves.
Parts of Crimea’s coastal highway linking the cities of Simferopol and Yevpatoria were closed due to flooding, and ferry services from Crimea’s largest city of Sevastopol were suspended.
Storm Hits Livestock in Russia
About five hundred marine animals in Sevastopol’s aquarium were killed during the storm, which flooded one of its floors, according to the city’s Moscow-installed governor.
Transport on the Ukrainian mainland and southern Russia was also affected.
