Three zoo employees drowned when severe flooding ravaged a zoo in the Georgia Capital, leaving an undetermined number of potentially dangerous animals unaccounted for.
At least 12 people died and rescue workers are still searching for at least two dozen people after the catastrophic floods.
Tbilisi zoo director Zurab Gurielidze said that none of the people who died was killed by the zoo animals set free after heavy flooding destroyed their enclosures.
Among the animals that fled the flooded zoo were lions, tigers, bears, wolves and a hippopotamus. Some, including the hippopotamus, were tranquillised and returned to the zoo. Others were shot by police, while others remain missing.
Gurielidze said it was still not possible to access the cages to assess the damage and count the animals on the loose with a large part of the zoo still under water. Bears and wolves are among the animals that fled from their enclosures amid the flooding from heavy rains and high winds.
Wild weather has caused widespread disaster throughout the state and authorities have warned residents in Tbilisi to stay inside.
Heavy rains and wind hit Tbilisi during the night, turning a normally small stream that runs through the hilly city into a surging river. The flooding also damaged dozens of houses.
Helicopters circled the city and volunteers and rescue workers laboured to help those whose residences were damaged or destroyed, despite the potential danger from the escaped animals. About 1.1 million people live in the former Soviet republic’s Capital.
The head of the Georgian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Ilia II, was quoted by the Interfax news agency as telling a Sunday Mass that Georgia’s former Communist rulers could be seen as involved in the disaster.
“When Communists came to us in this country, they ordered that all crosses and bells of the churches be melted down and the money used to build the zoo,” he said. “The sin will not go without punishment. I am very sorry that Georgians fell so that a zoo was built at the expense of destroyed churches.”
