Violent gusts of wind and huge waves: Storms described as a “mega storm” caused eight deaths in Russia, the annexed Crimea and other occupied territories of Ukraine and Moldova on Monday, according to authorities and media.
Dubbed the “storm of the century” and “megastorm” by the Russian media, this storm, which has lasted since Sunday, hit Crimea, a Ukrainian peninsula annexed in 2014, southwestern Russia and partially occupied areas of Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhia and Kherson in the hardest way Ukraine, according to the Russian Energy Ministry.
The body of a man was found in Sochi, a popular Russian seaside resort, according to regional authorities, who advised residents not to go near the water.
Another man who was “watching the waves” died in Crimea, an adviser to Crimea’s governor, Oleg Krioutchkov, told public television.
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According to Russian news agencies, one person was also killed on board a boat in the Kerch Strait between Crimea and Russia, and a body was discovered in Novorossiysk in the Krasnodar Territory.
As of 0700 GMT on Monday, “around 1.9 million people” in these regions were without power “due to unfavorable weather conditions,” the Russian Energy Ministry said.
In Crimea alone, 400,000 people were left without power due to this storm, as the energy company Krymenergo was quoted by Russian news agencies. Russian President Vladimir Putin has received reports of these “weather disasters” and has ordered his government to take measures to help affected areas, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.
In the Krasnodar region, where the seaside resort of Anapa is located, hundreds of trees and numerous metal structures used to equip the beaches were uprooted by the wind on the night from Sunday to Monday, resulting in injuries, said the local branch of the Russian Ministry of Emergency situations.
In Vitiazevo, near Anapa, the storm caused a large Belize-flagged cargo ship, the Blue Shark, to go aground, according to the same source.
The Caspian Pipeline Consortium announced it would stop loading oil and ground its tankers due to “extremely adverse weather conditions,” gusts of up to 86 km/h and waves up to eight meters high.
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“Armageddon”
In Crimea, the Black Sea flowed over the highways; Russian television showed images of waves breaking over cars trying to drive in the middle of the water.
Its governor Sergei Aksionov declared a state of emergency on Monday and announced a day of rest due to the bad weather.
“We have experienced a real ‘Armageddon’: residents do not remember seeing winds and waves of this strength until now,” Crimean parliament speaker Vladimir Konstantinov told Russian TV channel Rossia 24.
In Sevastopol, more than 500 marine animals were killed in the flooding of the local aquarium caused by the storm, the city’s governor, Mikhail Razvozhayev, wrote on Telegram.
According to him, the weather forecasts are currently hardly reassuring, as rain, snow and gusts of up to 30 meters per second are expected in Crimea on Monday.
Neighboring Ukraine is also facing severe weather: a snowstorm has left more than 2,000 cities without power and blocked highways.
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In Moldova, the authorities also announced the deaths of four people, citing media sources.
Two people were found in their car in the snow near the town of Coscalia (southeast).
The lifeless body of a 48-year-old man was discovered in the village of Cruglic (East). And that of another in Grigoriopol, a city in the separatist region of Transnistria.