103 dead in southern Russia floods

A woman takes video of the flood in the Black Sea resort of Gelendzhik, southern Russia, Saturday, July 7, 2012. Intense flooding in the Black Sea region of southern Russia killed 103 people after torrential rains dropped nearly a foot of water, forcing many to scramble out of their beds for refuge in trees and on roofs, officials said Saturday. (AP Photo/Ignat Kozlov)

MOSCOW (AP) — Intense flooding in the Black Sea region of southern Russia killed 103 people after torrential rains dropped nearly a foot of water, forcing many to scramble out of their beds for refuge in trees and on roofs, officials said Saturday.

Many people were asleep when the flooding hit overnight in theKrasnodar region, and the water rushed into the area around the hard-hit town of Krimsk with such speed and volume that rumors emerged that local officials had opened a nearby water reservoir.Muddy water coursed through streets and homes, in some cases high enough to flow over the hoods of cars and even as high as rooftops, according to witnesses.

People waded through waist-high water or maneuvered the streets in boats on Saturday. About 5,000 residences were flooded, the Krasnodar governor was quoted as telling the Interfax news agency.

"Nobody remembers such a flood in all (of the area's) history,"Alexander Tkachev said.

The Interior Ministry gave the death toll as 103 on Saturday evening, according to Russian news agencies; a regional ministry spokesman said earlier that at least 67 of the deaths were around Krimsk, about 1,200 kilometers (750 miles) south of Moscow. Five people were electrocuted in the Black Sea coastal city of Gelendzhik after a transformer fell into the water, state news agency RIA Novosti said.

Anna Kovalevskaya, whose parents live in the flooded area, described water inundating their home up to the roof.

"In the town, people are saying that a reservoir in the mountains above was opened," she told the Moscow-based radio station Russian News Service. "A wave came from there. There was seven meters (22 feet) of water in the town."

Tkachev reacted angrily to the speculation, saying on his Twitter account: "Stop spreading stupid rumors ... Now is the time to get through things together, not mock."

President Vladimir Putin flew to the region Saturday evening, viewing the damage from a helicopter. He will also meet with regional officials in Krimsk.

State news channel Rossiya 24 showed video of area residents rescuing people in small, inflatable boats and others slogging glumly through flooded homes.

"It came so fast!" exclaimed one woman, whose name was not given, waving an arm in frustration at the shin-deep water in her living room, where a large teddy bear sat on a sofa.

More than 28 centimeters (11 inches) of rain had fallen in Gelendzhik since the previous evening, the state meteorological service said.

Gelendzhik is on the Black Sea coast, and along with the area around it, is a popular summer vacation spot, including many children's camps. Vice-premier Olga Golodets told RIA Novosti that some 7,100 children were at holiday camps in the area, and that 459 children had to be evacuated.

The area also includes Novorossiisk, a major Black Sea port. The Transneft oil company said Saturday it has suspended loading oil onto tankers at the port because of the severe weather.

More than 1,500 Emergency Ministry officials were working to aid flood victims and clean up the damage, state TV said.

Syrian military conducts large-scale exercises

This citizen journalism image released by Shaam News Network taken Friday, July 6, 2012 purports to show a child in a military uniform and flashing the victory sign at an anti-Assad protest in Kafr Nabil, in Northwestern Syria. (AP Photo/Ra'ed Alfares, Shaam News Network) THE ASSOCIATED PRESS IS UNABLE TO INDEPENDENTLY VERIFY THE AUTHENTICITY, CONTENT, LOCATION OR DATE OF THIS CITIZEN JOURNALISM IMAGE

DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — Syria's military began large-scale exercises simulating defense against outside "aggression," the state-run news agency said Sunday — an apparent warning to other countries not to intervene in the country's crisis.

The exercise began Saturday with naval forces in a scenario where they repelled an attack from the sea, and will include air and ground forces over the next few days, SANA said. State TV broadcast footage of missiles being fired from launch vehicles and warships.

Some in the Syrian opposition have appealed to the West for foreign forces to step in to stop bloodshed that they say has left more than 14,000 dead since the uprising against President Bashar Assad began in March 2011. So far, the West has shown little appetite to intervene militarily in the conflict.

Special U.N. envoy Kofi Annan acknowledged in an interview published Saturday that the international community's efforts to find a political solution to the escalating violence in Syria have failed.

"The evidence shows that we have not succeeded," he told the French daily Le Monde.

Annan, the special envoy for the United Nations and the Arab League, is the architect of the most prominent international plan to end the crisis in Syria.

His six-point plan was to begin with a cease-fire in mid-April between government forces and rebels seeking to topple Assad. But the truce never took hold, and now the almost 300 U.N. observers sent to monitor the cease-fire are confined to their hotels because of the escalating violence.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Sunday that time is running out on Syrian peace hopes and warned that the Syrian state could collapse.

Speaking in Japan, Clinton said Annan's acknowledgement that his peace plan is failing "should be a wake-up call for everyone."

She said last month was the deadliest for the Syrian people in the 16-month revolt, but added that the opposition "is getting more effective in defense of themselves and going on the offensive against the Syrian military."

Syrian Defense Minister Dawood Rajiha attended the maneuvers and praised the "exceptional performance" of the naval forces which showed "a high level of combat training and ability to defend Syria's shores against any possible aggression."

"The navy carried out the training successfully, repelling the hypothetical attack and striking at given targets with high precision," the report said.

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Karam reported from Beirut.

Assad accuses US of fueling Syrian uprising

This citizen journalism image provided by Shaam News Network SNN, taken on Friday, July 6, 2012, purports to show Syrian children chanting slogans during a demonstration in Idlib, north Syria. Syria's military began large-scale exercises simulating defense against outside "aggression," the state-run news agency said Sunday an apparent warning to other countries not to intervene in the country's crisis. (AP Photo/Shaam News Network, SNN)THE ASSOCIATED PRESS IS UNABLE TO INDEPENDENTLY VERIFY THE AUTHENTICITY, CONTENT, LOCATION OR DATE OF THIS HANDOUT PHOTO

BERLIN (AP) — Syria's president has accused the United States in atelevision interview of fueling a violent uprising against his government.

German public broadcaster ARD quoted Bashar Assad as saying that America is partnering with those "terrorists ... with weapons, money or public and political support at the United Nations."

Assad was further quoted as saying that he won't step down "in the face of national challenges."

ARD released Assad's comments translated into German on Sunday ahead of the full interview's broadcasting. It said the interview — only the third Assad has given to a western news organization since Syria's uprising broke out in March 2011 — was conducted Thursday in Damascus and recorded by Syria's state television.

Syria's opposition says the uprising has left more than 14,000 dead since last year.

Russia mourns flood victims, local officials blamed

A local resident stands near a damaged car stuck in a flooded street in the town of Krymsk in Krasnodar region, southern Russia, July 8, 2012. REUTERS/Eduard Korniyenko

KRYMSK, Russia (Reuters) - Russia's emergencies ministeraccused local officials on Monday of not doing enough to prevent 171 deaths in weekend floods that raised new doubts about the country's readiness for natural disasters under President Vladimir Putin.

Putin declared a day of national mourning on Monday and relatives were preparing to bury their dead in Krymsk, the southern mountain town that was worst hit by floods that caught many of the victims unawares as they slept on Friday night.

Refrigerated trucks held the discolored bodies of some of the victims behind a hospital in Krymsk, where survivors gathered to identify the last of the dead.

Postmen in the badly damaged town of 57,000 people went from house to house, handing out sums of 10,000 roubles ($300), with the promise of more compensation to come. Many people were salvaging what they could from their sodden homes.

"Nothing is left. We are like tramps," said Ovsen Torosyan, 30. "I bought all the furniture and electrical goods on credit and still have to finish paying for them but they have all gone."

Putin, who was criticized for responding too slowly to national disasters early in his first spell as president, quickly flew to Krymsk on Saturday to show he was in control and ordered an inquiry into the high death toll.

Some residents say the wall of water that swept through Krymsk was so high that the gates of a nearby reservoir must have been opened.

Emergencies Minister Vladimir Puchkov has dismissed these suggestions but he said mistakes were made in failing to ensure residents were warned quickly enough. A criminal investigation has been launched.

"According to a preliminary appraisal, warnings were made but unfortunately not all the work was carried out properly. Mistakes were allowed by local leaders and various services," he said in televised comments.

"Not all the population was warned in time," he said.

SCREAMING FOR HELP

Residents said the floods upended trees and drowned livestock, lifting the carcasses and carrying them on the waters rushing through city streets. Officials said they were collecting animal corpses and destroying them to prevent disease from spreading in the aftermath of the floods.

"We were barely able to get out of our house and started screaming down the street for help. But we weren't able to save our things. We saw the water carry away the roof of our house," said one woman wearing a dirty pink shirt standing outside of the muddied ruins of her home.

In nearby municipal buildings, survivors who had lost their belongings picked through heaps of clothing - donations from nearby cities. Outside dozens of white tents were set up in a large camp for flood victims who had lost their homes.

Analysts and trade sources said they did not expect any impact on Russia's grain and oilseed harvest, although damage to the roads and railways could delay new grain deliveries to port.

The floods followed more than a month of heavy rainfall in the relatively wealthy southern "breadbasket" region of Krasnodar, where agriculture and tourism thrive.

Officials, who raised the death toll to 171 late on Sunday, were expecting more rains in the Krasnodar region on Monday although it was sunny and hot in Krymsk.

Torrential rain, equivalent to a third of the annual average rainfall in some places, temporarily paralyzed transport and briefly halted exports from the port of Novorossiisk, Russia's biggest commercial port.

The port was returning to normal operations, and the railway was operating normally again for passengers, but a railway spokesman said some freight traffic had been halted because of flood damage.

PUTIN TRIES TO STEM CRITICISM

It was the first major disaster in Russia since Putin returned to the Kremlin for a third term as president after a four-year interlude as prime minister.

The former KGB spy, now 59, has increasingly struggled to project his customary image of mastery since the outbreak of protests against his rule last December.

In his 12 years in power, as president and prime minister, Russia has been plagued by natural and man-made disasters that have laid bare a longstanding shortfall in investment and management of Russia's transport and infrastructure.

Social media contained criticism of the state media coverage which focused as much on Putin's visit to Krymsk as on the human suffering caused by the floods.

"The news on Channel One: The floods happened, Putin arrives in Krymsk, Putin flies in a helicopter, Putin arrives somewhere else, Putin has a meeting. Putin...," said a tweet by a Russian identified only as Dalia Roshina.

On Saturday, the president grilled local authorities about residents' complaints that they were not warned of the impending disaster and fears that water had flooded down from the nearby Neberdzhayevskoye reservoir.

The local officials rejected that notion, but a Reuters cameraman said that from a helicopter signs were visible that a large amount of water had escaped from the reservoir and a pipe was refilling the body of water. ($1 = 32.8387 Russian roubles)

(Writing by Melissa Akin and Timothy Heritage; Editing by Peter Graff)