Mediterranean cyclone’s aftereffects overcome
Power supplies have been restored to populated areas in the Crimea that suffered from the cyclone, Krymenerho spokesman told the press. The peninsula experienced a Mediterranean cyclone in the early morning hours of Monday, causing torrential rains and hail in some localities, and severing power lines in 73 populated areas.
The main republican committee of Ukraine’s Emergency Management Ministry reported power outages in 21 areas in Bilohirske raion. A similar disaster occurred in Bakhchisarai raion, affecting 24 villages and settlements. Nine populated areas suffered in the northern part of the peninsula. Sixteen streets in the town of Saky were blacked out, along with seven transformer units in the district center of Lenino. In Alushta, the hurricane tore the tiles off the roof of a summer cafe, an unfinished home, and a kindergarten. Two other populated areas sustained temporary power outages. The EMM reports no mass casualties, although four people drowned during a force-5 storm on the Black Sea. A 27-year-old resident of Bila Tserkva died in Sudak, and three others vacationers, including a Kyiv resident, drowned in Yalta. Lifeguards could not retrieve their bodies during the storm. Search and rescue operations have been underway for several days.
In Kerch, the storm flooded streets and uprooted trees within the space of 30 minutes. The heavy downpour flooded all low-lying areas, including the central stadium and city market. Winds gusted to 28 meters per second. Almost all routes of approach to Mount Mitridat were blocked by fallen trees and branches. Some of them fell on high-voltage lines and toppled concrete supports.
Oleksandr Zabelin, acting head of the Crimean Power Supply Agency, reported that five transformer units had to be turned off because of bad weather conditions. A Crimean citizen turned up at an emergency medical center with facial cuts from shards of a window pane shattered by the storm.
Car owners suffered the worst. At a flooded intersection cars and fixed-route taxis tried to wade through seawater at their own risk. Some local boys were biding their time, knowing only too well that their help would be required. For them every puddle is an opportunity to earn a quick buck. Helping a driver negotiate a stream costs 10 hryvnias. They told a correspondent from www.kerch.com.ua that the water was warm and that pushing a car across is not difficult. They had already earned a lot of money. The boys said that they mostly had to help owners of old cars, reports the news agency Novy Krym (New Crimea).
Bilohirske raion still has not received compensation funds for the disaster that occurred in July. Kostiantyn Luhovyk, the head of the Bilohirske raion administration, reported at a meeting of the local government that no major repairs have been done in the area. None of the agreements drawn up with contractors exceeded 300,000 hryvnias. Only three weather-affected facilities have resumed operation. Out of three flooded schools, only one, located in the raion center, has been repaired.
The start of the academic year in other rural schools is uncertain. “The raion hasn’t received the money it was promised,” Luhovyk says. Bilohirske raion was flooded on the night of July 2 by three months’ worth of rain. The rushing water broke the dam, flooding 528 homes in 7 populated areas. The Ukrainian cabinet issued budget appropriations to the tune of 6,280,800 hryvnias as compensation for the disaster in Bilohirske raion on Aug. 1, but flood victims have still not received any money.
