Aftermath of the storm in Odesa: five dead, fifteen injured

Five people died and fifteen others injured in Odesa and the region as a result of a powerful storm that lasted for almost two days.

This was reported by Oleksandr Krytskyi, deputy head of the Odesa Oblast State Emergency Service for Emergency Response, at a briefing at the Ukraine-Odesa Media Center.

“Three people died of hypothermia, two died because of falling trees, and fifteen other people were injured by the storm – either injured by falling trees or suffered hypothermia. All the dead are homeless,” said the deputy head of the State Emergency Service.

Forecasters and city services warned that winds were expected to increase to gusts of 30 meters per second. 

“Citizens ignored the precautions we warned about. Unfortunately, there were many stuck cars and traffic jams on the roads. It took us 10 hours to get from Starokozache to Bilhorod-Dnistrovskyi. We received a report that 93 people were stuck on the highway near Petrodolinskoye in bad weather. We came to the rescue, the first bus had 50 passengers, the second bus had 93. At the time of our arrival, we managed to get 40 people out, and evacuated the rest. It took us almost a day to do it all. Now there is no one in the buses on the roads,” said Mr. Krytskyi.

He added that almost all law enforcement agencies and even the military were involved in the response to the weather in Odesa region.

“In total, 491 units of equipment were working in the region, 1973 personnel were rescuing people. Everyone was involved – the Border Guard Service. The National Guard, the State Emergency Service, and the South Operational Command also provided equipment and people. In addition, volunteers helped us a lot – they evacuated people on almost all roads in the region, dug out cars, and also took in people: every house near the roads took in frozen people,” the deputy head of the State Emergency Service emphasized.

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