Russia Sunday scrambled to deal with the aftermath of devastating flash floods that killed at least 150 people and swept away homes in the southern Krasnodar region’s worst natural disaster in history.

Russian President Vladimir Putin personally inspected the worst-hit areas yesterday evening, the first major disaster since he came back to the Kremlin for a third term in May.

Putin compared the force of the water, which trapped people in their homes at night, ripped up pavements and traffic lights and flooded rail tracks, to a “tsunami”.

He also quickly moved to address panicky speculation that the deluge was caused by an emergency opening of floodgates at a local reservoir, with the Kremlin issuing a statement that Putin had been told it was not the cause of the flooding.

At least 150 people died in the disaster, including in the port of Novorossiisk and the popular Black Sea resort town of Gelendzhik where five were electrocuted, a regional police spokeswoman in the city of Krasnodar told AFP.

The worst hit area was a district around Krymsk, a town of 57,000 where rescue teams have found 139 bodies including those of a one-year-old toddler and a 10-year-old child. Most of the victims were pensioners, many caught by the floods in their sleep.

Krymsk is about 200 kilometres northwest of the Black Sea resort of Sochi where Russia will host the 2014 Summer Olympic Games.

Flash floods frequently batter towns along the picturesque Black Sea coast during seasonal rains in the
Caucasus mountains, but authorities say the current disaster is unprecedented.

Officials have been unable to explain the massive death toll, saying only the floods were caused by torrential rains and caught many people unawares.

The force of the water was so ferocious that many residents said they suspected the floods were a man-made disaster caused by a release of water at a local reservoir on the Naberdzhai River.

In a bid to address persistent concerns, Putin, wearing a black shirt, was shown on television grilling officials about whether an emergency release of water was possible at the Naberdzhai reservoir.

“Where did the water come from?” Putin asked government officials in televised remarks.
Krasnodar Governor Alexander Tkachev swiftly replied: “It was raining.”

Investigators however acknowledged today that repeated releases of water did happen but it remained unclear whether it might have contributed to the disaster.