After the flood: Officials fight deluge of 'man-made' Internet conspiracies

Published: 08 July, 2012, 16:26
Edited: 09 July, 2012, 15:42

As authorities struggle with the aftermath of a massive flood which killed over 170 in Russia’s south, conspiracy theories on the deluge’s nature are popping up all over the Internet, provoking heated debates and forcing officials to respond.

­The flood on July 7 killed over 170 and left nearly 500 wounded.

The battle to find the missing and identify the dead continues in the  Krasnodar Region, as July 9 has been declared a day of mourning for  those who perished in the cataclysm.

Local authorities have officially confirmed that heavy downpours have  caused the floods that devastated 5,000 residential houses in the  cities of Novorossiysk, Gelendzhik and Krymsk, leaving thousands of  people roofless. The town of Krymsk was affected worst of all.

According to the latest reports, almost 35,000 people have been affected by the tragedy.

The governor of the Krasnodar region Aleksandr Tkachev has stressed  that there have been neither massive water discharge from the local  water reservoirs, nor were the dams damaged by the excessive rise of the  water table.

This information has been confirmed by inspections made from helicopters.

Still, the head of the Russia’s Ministry of Emergency has  acknowledged that the flood hazard alerting system did not function  properly in Krymsk.

But in the Russian blogosphere, an outpouring of opinions concerning the tragedy has created a tsunami of its own.

A flood of conspiracies

­From the very outset of the disaster, the Internet has been abuzz with chatter as to whether the floods in Novorossiysk, Gelendzhik and Krymsk were purely natural or partially man-made.

These three cities are divided by small, but still considerable mountain ranges, and thus were affected by the flood waters in different manners. Novorossiysk and Gelendzhik are Black Sea port cities surrounded by mountains from three sides.

The water that poured down their streets and out to sea were caused by unprecedented cloudbursts. Once the precipitation fell to the ground around these two cities, it drained into the sea from the surrounding mountains – eventually flushing through residential quarters, causing havoc and several deaths.

FULL STORY: http://www.rt.com/news/krymsk-flood-deluge-versions-663/