Nine people including a family-of-five have died after severe flash flooding struck the Ukrainian city of Odesa.
Over two months of rain fell on the coastal area in seven hours, leading to storms, downpours and power outages across the region. The family was killed when they were swept away by flood waters from their ground floor flat according to emergency services.
Three women died in a separate incident as they were walking along a flood-hit road. More than 500 workers were involved in the rescue effort, saving 362 people with at least one person still missing.
“In just seven hours, almost two months’ worth of rain fell in Odesa,” Mayor Hennadiy Trukhanov said on Telegram on Wednesday. “No stormwater drainage system can withstand such a load.”
Pictures posted by the emergency services showed firefighters and other personnel saving people from buses filled with water. Around 42,000 people in 32 villages and towns in the region are still without power.
The downpours have damaged properties and left roads rendered unusable. Several trees have also been brought down, Governor Oleh Kiper said.
Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelensky, who has been in talks with European leaders to bolster defences after drone incursions into Nato airspace, released a statement on Wednesday.
“A horrific situation in Odesa – nine people have died as a result of the natural disaster, including a child,” he wrote.
“My condolences to their families and loved ones. Information is being verified regarding another person whose fate remains unknown,” Mr Zelensky continued. “Ukraine’s State Emergency Service and the National Police are engaged in the rescue operation and recovery work.
“Today, Deputy Prime Minister Oleksii Kuleba reported on the situation in the city and on clarifying the circumstances behind a tragedy of this scale.
“I instructed him to conduct a full review of operations in Odesa and of all the facts that preceded the tragedy and could have led to such grave consequences. This Friday, I expect a detailed report.”
Odesa is the third most populous in Ukraine and continues to face more bad weather as torrential rain floods the region for a second day. The port city has been battered by Russian attacks since the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Ukraine’s bad weather comes as Vladimir Putin’s war on the country grinds towards its fifth year.
A Russian guided aerial bomb attack on the northeastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv overnight injured six people and sparked several fires, regional officials said on Wednesday.
Five of those injured, all adults, have been hospitalised, Oleh Synehubov, governor of the broader Kharkiv region, said on the Telegram messaging app.
Ihor Terekhov, mayor of Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city that is also the capital of the Kharkiv region, said the attack also sparked a fire at one of the city’s markets and at some residential buildings.
Photos and videos showed firefighters battling through the night as flames engulfed what appeared to be market stalls and other structures.
The Kharkiv region, which lies near the border with Russia, has been the target of regular aerial attacks since the start of the war.
