Flooding Creates Temporary IDP Camps

Heavy rains this month caused flooding in 20 villages surrounding the Kura River, Azerbaijan's main water artery, which enters the country from Georgia, where it is called the Mtkvari. The river was gaining water at the fastest rate in a century, according to officials – roughly 2,415 cubic meters per second.

Some 20,000 people – more than 4,300 families – in 20 villages near the Kura River have been affected by the flooding so far, the Ministry of Health reports.

The hardest hit area is Sabirabad district southwest of Baku where the Kura River intersects with the Araz River. Thousands of houses remain under water and thousands more – constructed from a mixture of loam and hay – have been destroyed. The Ministry of Agriculture estimates the cost of the damage to 50,000 hectares of farm land at some 50 million manats, or about $62.5 million.