1.9 million people are left without electricity in southern Russia, Crimea and occupied Ukrainian regions due to a hurricane that hit them in the last few hours. This was announced by the Ministry of Energy cited byTax agency. The toll, still provisional, is two dead and 10 injured, according to the emergency services. One victim is reported in Crimea and one in Sochi. The storm, with winds that reached 40 meters per second yesterday, destroyed the roofs of houses, uprooted trees, flooded homes and caused serious damage to tourist facilities on Crimean beaches. About fifty flights departing and arriving at Moscow airports were cancelled. The speaker of the Crimean Parliament, Vladimir Konstantinov, said it was hoped that water would begin to flow from populated areas from this evening, but the process would still take “several days”. «What we saw – added Konstantinov – was an Armageddon. Winds and waves of such strength are not remembered.”
Roman Vilfand, scientific director of the Hydrometeorological Center, told the Ria Novosti agency that it was the strongest storm to hit Crimea since meteorological observations began. Within living memory a similar event occurred in Balaklava in November 1854, during the Crimean War, when the Allied fleet (British, Turkish, French and Sardinian).
