13:00, 8 May 2010

20,000 houses flooded in Azerbaijan

Forty districts of Azerbaijan suffer from flooding - the Kura River has left its banks and ruined over 300 houses, drove 2000 houses into the emergency condition, and covered 50,000 hectares of arable land with water.

On May 7, a sitting took place in Baku dedicated to liquidation of the consequences of the calamity. President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliev assured that all the victims would receive compensations, every possible help and solution of social problems, the Russian News Service reports.

Now, the forces and machinery of the Ministry for Emergencies (MfE) are engaged in pumping out water from the dwelling districts of the city of Shirvan, located along the Kura River, and erecting a 500-meter dam, as the Trend reports.

The river has destroyed the dam in the territory of Shirvan (located in the eastern part of the country) and flooded Bairamly village. Local population is now evacuated, and in the stadium located in the centre of Sabirabad, according to the "News-Azerbaijan", a tent camp is being deployed for those evacuated from the dangerous area.