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Natural Disaster Attacked Lagodekhi District

August 22, 2011

Gela Mtivlishvili, Kakheti

Natural disaster attached Lagodekhi district in the morning of August 21 and lasted till late night. 70 families residing in residential buildings in Zakatala Street were evacuated. The River Shromis Khevi, rose after a heavy rain, took 8 garages from the yard away; the water completely destroyed restaurant Nadzvebi, tore off perennial trees, damaged the pipes of natural air and electricity wires. The houses, roads and plots got flooded in the villages too. Domestic poultry and animals died.

The rain started at 2:00 am –night to August 21 in Kakheti region. In the morning, cars could not move in some parts of Gurjaani-Tbilisi motorway. The water flowing from ravines flooded central motorway near Kachreti and in the villages of Tokhliauri and Manavi in Sagarejo district. The water depth on the road was more than 30 centimeters. The road near Kachreti was macadamized.

River Cheremis Khevi was also flooded in Gurjaani district. Cheremi village got isolated from the environment. The only road linking the village outside world was through the bridge over the River and after the disaster even large tracks could not move across it.

As a result of heavy rain, more than 50 houses and about 200 hectares of vine-yards got flooded in Bogdanovka village in Sagarejo district. The locals had their domestic poultry and animals dead in the disaster.

Houses of about 40 families in Vazisubani village in Gurjaani district got flooded as well. The locals said they had been asking for the fire engine tracks from the local administration since morning in order to pump out the water from the basements but in vain.

“Nobody paid attention to us. We pour away the water from the basements in buckets. Some people even switched on the pumps. Everything got wet and damaged what we stored on the ground floor. There are no drainage channels in the area and the water directly rushed into our houses from the street,” the locals complained.

At about 12:00 pm the water of the flooded Shibliani Khevi took the bridge linking the village with the outside world away. The houses got flooded in the village.

As a result of the heavy rain, every river rose in Lagodekhi district. “Unless rain stops soon, we will face serious problems,” said chair of the municipal board Gia Gozalishvili at 1:00 pm. At 3:00 pm evacuation of residents of Zakatala Street started. Dimitry Loladze, Lagodekhi district governor, said the River Shromis Khevi threatened the residential buildings.

The rescue team saved an employee of the Lagodekhi district Water Distribution Company, who was stuck in the office, and took him out of the office by helicopter.

Residents of Kabali village in Lagodekhi district also asked for help. Local Gulnaz Mamedova said the water rushed into the village and flooded their houses, roads and plots. People could not leave the district.

“We are in water. Those, who had two-storied houses, sheltered in the second floor. The water took everything we had at home. We want to leave the area but cannot. My neighbor tried to drive away but he fell into the hole. They left the car on the road and returned home,” said the victim of the disaster.

About 500 houses were flooded in Kabali; about 80 families left houses. They gathered on Lagodekhi-Tbilisi road till late evening but none of the local officials met them.

The flooded ravine destroyed part of the road linking Georgia-Azerbaijan close to the Lagodekhi checkpoint. The traffic movement is permitted only in one direction; so there are some problems in crossing the border.

The flooded rivers damaged electricity system too and Lagodekhi district is now without electricity supply.

Gia Gozalishvili said the river-water stopped rising, so they started disaster liquidation procedures.

“70 families from Zakatala Street are still evacuated. Many of them had other accomodations and moved there; others stayed at their relatives’. Rescue teams have already pumped out big part of water from basements and still continue the procedures. Specialists will evaluate the sustainability of houses today or tomorrow and if everything is well, people will return home within 3-4 days. The villagers were also damaged and the commission works to estimate the total amount of the damage. The district will receive electricity supply till the end of this day. I cannot say anything about gas. The river destroyed the pipes yesterday and they should be repaired,” said Gozalishvili.

Lagodekhi district received a damage of about 3 million GEL as a result of the natural disaster. Sagarejo district was also seriously damaged. Villages Shibliani, Kandaura, Badiauri and Bogdanovka have outfall buildings and network of the drinking water completely destroyed. Internal village roads were also damaged. Villages remained without drinking water. Special commission works on the damage estimation process.

Project coordinator of the Caucasian Environmental NGO Network Rezo Getiashvili said the management of natural disasters in Georgia is very weak.

“The management of natural disasters starts with responds to the problem while all previous stages, like evaluation, prevention, etc never take place. Luckily, River Duruji has not risen yet but according to recent evaluations the risk is much higher and the scope of the predicted disaster is very huge though nothing is done for prevention. If the government wants to be adequate, the prevention process shall start immediately after the evaluation is made,” said Rezo Getiashvili.

Kakheti regional governor Giorgi Gviniashvili clarified that almost every ravine and river bed in the region was cleaned but the heavy rain originated torrent which then destroyed dams and water took constructions away.

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