Day Of Mourning In Russia After Flood Deaths

Russia is holding a day of mourning after more than 170 people were killed in flash floods in the southwest of the country over the weekend.

Homes were inundated with water as people slept after a foot of rain fell in just a few hours on Saturday.

Russian president Vladimir Putin has demanded an investigation into the emergency response to the flash floods after at least 171 people were killed.

Floods and landslides have devastated the Krasnodar region after two months' average rainfall fell in several hours.

The death toll included 12 people in the port of Novorossiisk and five people who were electrocuted at the popular Black Sea resort town of Gelendzhik.

The worst hit area was a district around Krymsk with population of about 57,000 where rescue teams have found 159 bodies including three children, police said.

Television footage showed torrents of brown floodwater gushing along streets in Krymsk past blanket-covered bodies.

Mr Putin was flown over the region by helicopter before a brief meeting with local officials in Krymsk, amid claims by residents that authorities had abandoned them.

The president ordered investigators find out whether local authorities had given people enough warning to get to safety.

People in the region were caught by surprise by the sheer force of the waters, which ripped up pavements and traffic lights and flooded buildings.

Most of the dead - many of them elderly people caught unawares as they slept - were drowned.

Some people woke in the middle of the night to find water pouring in, trapping them in their homes.

Police said survivors climbed into trees and onto roofs to escape the deluge, which flooded entire ground floors of some buildings.

One woman had to spend the night up a tree before being rescued.

Authorities estimated that up to 13,000 people had been affected in the Krymsk district.

Russian news agencies quoted local officials as saying heavy rains, which have persisted in the region for over a month, were likely to stop by Monday.

But the consequences of the flash floods could be more lasting for Mr Putin, who has been criticised in the past for a slow response to deadly disasters.

"I have asked the leadership of the Investigative Committee to come down," Mr Putin was quoted as saying by Itar-Tass news agency late on Saturday at a meeting in Krymsk.

"The Investigative Committee will check the actions of all the authorities - how the notice was given, how it could have been given, how it should have been given and who acted how.

"I ask you to co-operate."

It is the first major disaster in Russia since Mr Putin returned to the Kremlin for a third term as president after a four-year interlude as prime minister.