Ukraine flooding leaves three dead, hundreds homeless

Three people have died and hundreds more have fled their homes in western Ukraine following the worst flooding in a decade, authorities said Wednesday.

Floods caused by heavy rains that began this week hit 200 villages, damaging 5,000 homes and forcing the evacuation of 800 people, the interior ministry said.
The worst-hit region is Ivano-Frankivsk on the Romanian border. 

Local residents stand next to a road destroyed by flood. Reuters

Around 70 percent of monthly rainfall in some areas regions fell over several days, said Interior Minister Arsen Avakov, who flew to the disaster zone with the prime minister and the head of the emergency services. 

More than 100 kilometres of road and around 90 bridges have been destroyed, the interior ministry said Wednesday.

Authorities were to start deliveries of food by helicopter to villages cut off by the flood waters. 

Rescuers evacuate local residents from a flooded area. Reuters

It is the biggest flood since 2008, when 39 people were killed in western Ukraine.

Some experts blame large-scale and often illegal logging operations in the Carpathian mountains for stripping trees that would normally help contain the run-off.

Agence France-Presse