Severe Rain and Hail Hits Georgia’s Kakheti Region

Firemen, rescuers and police officers worked all night long in order to help Georgians affected by severe rain and hail that occurred in several districts of the Kakheti Region, yesterday.

Strong wind, heavy rain and hail damaged vehicles and roofs in Kvareli district, as well as basements which were flooded in the Lagodekhi district; a landslide also blocked a road in Akhmeta.

All Kakheti emergency relief departments were mobilized and ten additional rescue teams were sent from Tbilisi. The Interior Ministry was informed, and received a call about the natural disaster via the emergency call centre at 112.

Hail has been a major problem for people in Kakheti. Every year a large portion of the agricultural products, in particular grapes are damaged by hail, leaving farmers with no crops.

Early this year, 83 points where selected where officials installed a revolutionary anti-hail system. These points covered the eight municipalities in Kakheti.

However, “an anti-hail system is effective when clouds are still forming…yesterday in Kakheti we faced a fully developed storm front,” representative of the Delta Center Giga Inashvili explained.

He further added that anti-hail arrays continued working, but all in vain.

Photo: ICK.ge