Second flood wave doesn’t threaten Krymsk

MOSCOW, July 9 (Itar-Tass) — Oleg Grekov, the press service chief of the southern regional center of the Russian Ministry for Emergency Situations, has flatly denied allegations that a second flood wave could hit Krymsk again.

“Information that a second flood wave is on its way and that the dike has been destroyed has been disseminated among civilians in the Krymsk region. It’s a lie and a provocation,” Grekov said. “There’s no threat,” he emphasized.

He described the situation as stable.

“Rescuers are using loudspeakers to inform people in the streets of Krymsk and other populated localities in the Krymsk region that there was no reason for panic and that nothing was threatening them,” Grekov emphasized.

Several cars appeared in Krymsk earlier on Monday. People in the cars warned the local residents that a second wave of floods was coming because of the dike burst.

In the meantime, Vladimir Puchkov, the Russian minister for emergency situations, said on Monday that water reservoirs were unlikely to have caused floods in the Krasnodar territory.

“There were no indicators that water reservoirs would cause a sharp rise of water,” Vladimir Puchkov told journalists.

The minister said he had personally inspected all the dikes and flood-gates.

Puchkov said that a number of objective weather factors were the root causes for the recent floods.

“It was a combination of natural factors, i.e. torrential rain and huge base water levels that led to the catastrophic rise of water in rivers. That caused damage to people houses and facilities,” Puchkov said.