Ureki – Zone of Natural Disaster

Ana Urushadze, Guria

On August 18, heavy rain started at 6:00 am and flooded some parts of resort town Ureki: Meskhi Street, Dumbadze Street, so called Police Street. The storm caused a landslide near the flats of former agricultural farm.

Rescue teams and specialists continue working in the zones of natural disaster; they evaluate the damage and will soon calculate the material loss of local population.

Currently, the rain has already stopped in Ureki and population tries to clean the territory from the rubbish brought by the storm.

One of the victimized residents of Dumbadze Street Eka Midodashvili talked with us: “Our problem is not related only with the rain. Damaged torment channels and sewerage system create problems for us. These problems first originated in communist time. Workers used to arrive here from Svaneti and cleaned channels with hands. We have been twice flooded this month. The water level has reached almost 1 meter; the water flew into houses and seriously damaged us. Furniture was destroyed and poultry killed.”

Victimized woman said that one of the main problems of the residents in Dumbadze Street is the bridge on the river Kuchkhis Abano at the corner of the street; during rain the river gets flooded. She personally talked about this problem with the Prime Minister of Georgia who had promised population to repair torment channels.

Problem of sewerage system often causes floods in the so-called Khutori settlement in Ureki. Local resident Neron Kiladze said that this problem had been urgent in Ureki since 2005. “Badri Patarkatsishvili built 18-tunnel bridge to increase permeability here. However, it appeared not enough to give right direction to the collected water and often caused water flaw and flood in the surrounding areas. The difference between flows is one meter and it creates threat of water-flood. I can easily declare that if more efforts are spent and more equipment is allocated here, this problem will be resolved in two-three days.”

Majoritarian member of the Ureki Municipal Board Jaba Mikaberidze said the natural disaster had not significantly damaged the resort zone. So, not many holiday-makers left Ureki. He said specialists will soon estimate the damage and publish concrete figures that will allow the authority to take effective measures for remedy.

Owner of one of the hotels in Ureki Leila Voskanian said exaggerated information was spread as if Ureki was flooded and resort season had failed there.

Photos by Guria News