Hurricane force winds, snowfall and flooding that swept parts of southern Russia, Ukraine and Moldova left at least 13 people dead Monday and almost two million without power, authorities said.
Dubbed the ‘storm of the century’ by Russian media, the violent weather has lashed the southern regions of Dagestan, Krasnodar and Rostov, as well as the occupied Ukrainian territories of Donetsk, Lugansk, Kherson, Zaporizhzhia and Crimea since Sunday.
President Vladimir Putin has been following reports of the “meteorological disasters” and ordered the government to take measures to help the affected regions, Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov said.
Russia’s energy ministry said about 1.9 million people were affected by power cuts.
Four people were reported to have died in Russia and Crimea due to the storms, with another four reported dead in Moldova.
In Ukraine, the severe weather left at least five people dead and almost 1,500 towns and villages in the dark after storms dumped up to 25 centimetres (10 inches) of snow in some places.
“Unfortunately, as of now, there are some deaths. The highest number (of casualties) is in the Odesa region — five people,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said.
Huge waves crashed over beachside areas of Russia’s Black Sea coast, video from social media showed, as wind speeds reached over 140 kilometres (about 90 miles) per hour in some places.
Two bodies were found in Russia’s southern Krasnodar region, while state media said a sailor was killed in the Kerch Strait between Crimea and Russia.
One man on the Russian-annexed Crimean peninsula’s southern coast was also killed, according to Oleg Kryuchkov, an adviser to the region’s Russian-installed governor Sergei Aksyonov.
“The man went out to look at the waves and, unfortunately, tragically died,” he said.
In Moldova, the bodies of two people were found in a car buried in a snowdrift in the southeastern area of Coscalia, Moldovan media reported.A 48-year old man was found dead in the eastern village of Cruglic and the storm claimed the life of another man in Grigoriopol in the separatist region of Transnistria.
In Russia’s Krasnodar region, which includes the resorts of Sochi and Anapa, several people were injured when hundreds of trees were blown down, the Russian emergency situations ministry said.
In Vitiazevo near Anapa, the storm caused a large Belize-flagged cargo ship, the “Blue Shark” to run around, the ministry said.
The Caspian Pipeline Consortium said it was suspending the loading of oil and sheltering its tankers due to “extremely unfavourable weather conditions” with winds gusting up to 86 kph (53 mph) and waves up to eight metres (26 feet) high.
Crimean lawmaker Vladimir Konstantinov said on state television that the peninsula had experienced an “armageddon”-like scenario.
“Old-timers can’t remember this kind of wind and waves,” he said.
