Death Toll in Southern Russia Floods Climbs to 150

The death toll from severe flash floods in Russia's southern Krasnodar region climbed to 150 people from the figure of 146 released earlier by investigators, a police spokeswoman said Sunday.

The worst hit area was an area around Krymsk, a town of 57,000 lying about 200 kilometers (120 miles) northwest of the Black Sea resort town of Sochi where Russia will host the 2014 Summer Olympic Games.

A total of 139 bodies have been discovered in the Krymsk district, a spokeswoman for regional police in the city of Krasnodar told AFP.

Regional investigators had earlier Sunday put the overall death toll at 146.

A spokesman for regional investigators, Ivan Sengerov, told AFP that figure included 12 killed in the port of Novorossiisk and the resort town of Gelendzhik, even though officials had earlier said 11 were killed in those two cities.

Nearly 29,000 people remained without power across the southern region, the emergencies ministry said earlier in the day.

Flash floods frequently batter towns along the picturesque Black Sea coast during seasonal rains in the Caucasus Mountains, but authorities say the current disaster is unprecedented.

Officials have not been able to explain the massive death toll, saying only the floods were caused by torrential rains and caught many people in their sleep.

Officials quickly moved to quash charges that the deluge was caused by an emergency release of water at a local water reservoir.