Heavy and prolonged rain in the late hours of August 14 caused flooding in Tbilisi, with water entering basements, houses, and metro stations, causing soil collapse, and damaging building walls and infrastructure across the city.
Videos circulated on social media showing cars struggling through deep streams of water and debris in streets across various neighborhoods of the capital, while locals also reported soil collapses and flooded basements, appealing for assistance. A surging river was also seen flowing fast through the Leghvtakhevi area in old Tbilisi.
While heavy rains have flooded the city’s streets several times this summer, the latest flooding appears to most substantial in terms of damage so far.
Tbilisi City Hall said early on August 15 that cleaning and pumping operations are underway “in emergency mode” across the city, with both personnel and machinery deployed to mitigate the effects of the flooding.
According to Giorgi Papava, head of Tbilservis Group, a municipality-owned company carrying out the works, the rain caused “problems” in all ten districts, including washing gravel onto roadways.
The City Hall said particularly heavy rainfall was recorded in the Vake, Mtatsminda, and Krtsanisi districts, while residents of Chughureti, Vake, Krtsanisi, and Mtatsminda suffered particular damage. According to the statement, the damage included flooded private houses and basements, the collapse of a retaining wall in the Okrokana area, and flooding of streets as well as areas around metro stations.
A soil collapse also damaged the wall of a residential building in the Nadzaladevi district, with the family of three offered temporary relocation, according to the City Hall. Plaster fell from the facades of buildings across the city, and several cars were caught in debris from a collapsed slope in Saburtalo, the statement said.
In a statement published during the ongoing heavy rain at around 11 pm on August 14, the National Environment Agency warned of periods of rainfall of “heavy intensity” in Kakheti and Kvemo Kartli regions, Georgia’s eastern regions, as well as the capital and surrounding areas, from late evening on August 4 through the morning of August 15, noting it could cause flash floods on small rivers and trigger or intensify landslides and mudflows in hilly and mountainous areas, with the hazard level assessed as “moderate.”
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