Heavy rainfall causes flooding in Russia-annexed Crimea

– Dozens of houses were flooded in the Russian-annexed peninsula of Crimea on Monday and people were evacuated from towns after heavy rainfall caused a river to burst its banks, local authorities said.

The Biyuk-Karasu river overflowed for the first time in history on Monday, the Tass news agency reported, prompting officials to introduce a state of emergency in the Belogorsky district in the south of the peninsula.

The equivalent of a month’s rainfall fell overnight in Crimea and river levels rose by up to two metres. The region’s emergency ministry warned of the possibility of mudslides as rain continued on Monday.