Moscow • President Vladimir Putin declared a national day of mourning and promised financial compensation for the victims of flash floods in southern Russia on Sunday, as emergency officials said the number of people killed had risen to more than 150.
Putin toured the deluged region by air Saturday evening, flying over towns that were inundated by rivers of muddy water churning through the streets, submerging cars and ravaging buildings. "Like a tsunami," Putin said.
Questions about whether official negligence or misconduct had played a role in the disaster quickly came to the fore. The federal Investigative Committee said it had opened a criminal inquiry and would examine the authorities responsible for emergency preparedness to determine if more should or could have been done to prevent the deaths.
But officials were quick to rule out the possibility that the flooding in the hardest-hit town, Krymsk, had been made worse by water released from a local reservoir.
The federal emergency situations minister, Vladimir Puchkov, reported that he flew over the Neberdzhayevskoye reservoir in a helicopter and saw no breaches. The Investigative Committee said it found no problem with the reservoir, where small amounts of water are routinely released.
"The normal mode of the dam did not affect the development of the tragic events," the committee reported, adding that there had been "no mass emissions or water overflows."
About 11 inches of rain fell Friday night and early Saturday on the Krasnodar region near the Black Sea, the most punishing rains there in recent memory. The heaviest downfalls were reported between 1 and 3 a.m. Saturday, and they were quickly funneled into torrents by the hilly terrain. Thousands of homes were flooded, in many cases as their occupants slept.
Emergency officials reported that more than 2,700 people were evacuated, and dozens were hospitalized.
Putin, who returned to the presidency in May after four years as prime minister, seemed intent on demonstrating a forceful response to the first big natural disaster in Russia since his inauguration.
He promised that each family affected by the flooding would immediately receive about $300 for emergency necessities, followed by about $4,600 per person for lost property. Families that suffered a fatality would receive compensation up to about $60,000, according to Putin's website.
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