Mudslide outside Black Sea Sochi blocks local road

Mudslides triggered by downpours hit a section of the left bank of the Mzymta River outside Sochi overnight to Wednesday. The most powerful mudslide blocked a road used by local workers, sources from the Krasnodar region’s department for federal highways told Tass on Wednesday. The sources said mudslides continue. The damage and the scope of mudslides will be specified later. Also on Wednesday, a rock-fill embankment on the Mzymta River in Krasnaya Polyana near Sochi was partially eroded by a heavy rain. There was no danger for the local population, but for security considerations 700 workers were evacuated from the nearest workers’ settlement. The EMERCOM department said that meteorologists had forecasted heavy rains which might trigger the overwetting of soils and a rise in river levels in the area of Krasnaya Polyana.