Nearly 2,000 eyewitnesses said Krymsk notification system failed - Bastrykin
GELENDZHIK. July 25 (Interfax) - Eyewitnesses' accounts from nearly 2,000 people show that the warning system in Krymsk was virtually non-existent, Investigative Committee chief Alexander Bastrykin said.
"Today we have eyewitness accounts from almost 2,000 people that the warning system was practically absent. To date, we have obtained documentary evidence that out of the large number of residents, only 52 people, who lived in that part of the city where the automatic system was operational, received the warning," Bastrykin said at a meeting held by the Russian president, which focused on the response to the Krasnodar region floods.
The warning system was poor, he said. Only one of three speakers worked at 4 a.m., he said. "The (warning system) ran for five minutes and then choked on water," he said.
On July 6-7, a flood caused by heavy rains hit Gelendzhik, Novorossiysk, Krymsk and a number of villages in the Kuban region. Some 7,200 homes (including 4,800 in Krymsk were flooded). About 170 people were killed, including 153 in Krymsk.