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Olympic Sochi eliminates consequences of heavy storm

The storm left three persons with head injuries and bruises, according to medical services
Photo ITAR-TASS/Artur Lebedev
Photo ITAR-TASS/Artur Lebedev

SOCHI, September 26 (Itar-Tass) - Russia’s Sochi, the host city of the 2014 Winter Olympics, has managed to eliminate the consequences of the storm that battered this seaside resort overnight to Thursday.

Sochi’s Mayor Anatoly Pakhomov told Itar-Tass on Thursday that emergency teams consisting of over 400 workers had been clearing the streets from hundreds of storm-toppled trees until the morning.

“Nature has been testing us in the past seven days,” he said. “And if rainfalls were dumping the city the day before yesterday (on Tuesday), a storm of wild force hit it yesterday night with gusts of wind reaching 35 meters per second.”

“We should say words of gratitude to the rescue teams of the Kuban-SPAS emergency service and rescue teams of the Southern Federal District as well as the regional and city authorities,” the mayor said. “By 8 a.m. our joint work has helped along the city to resume its daily routine.”

Nursery and secondary schools closed because of the element are opening their doors to students again while the streets are still being cleared of fallen branches and mud.

The storm left three persons with head injuries and bruises, according to medical services.

Heavy rainstorm one more test for Sochi Olympic facilities

The hard weather which hit the resort city of Sochi on Wednesday had no effect on the Olympic facilities, Russian Vice-Premier Dmitry Kozak told reporters on Thursday.

Over the time of preparations for the Olympic Games, the entire infrastructure built for the Games and for the city has withstood several weather tests. "We had an earthquake and a snow storm. Last year it was unusually warm and there was no snow. It rained yesterday as hard as never before, but there was no harm to any of the sport and infrastructure facilities built or under construction,” the vice-premier noted.

IOC Coordination Commission Chairman Jean-Claude Killy also confirmed that the heavy rains had no effect on the Olympic infrastructure. It is an indication of reliability of everything built here, he said.