Sochi Olympic city flooding causes emergency (VIDEO)
A picture taken on July 8, 2012 shows a flooded street in the southern Russian town of Krymsk near the resort city of Sochi.
An emergency has been declared in Sochi, Russia, the host city of the 2014 Olympic Winter Games, due to floods and mudslides.
Heavy rains have inundated streets and sections of highways in the Black Sea resort town.
Reuters reported that the Olympic village currently looks like a muddy construction site and that some of the venues had been flooded by about five feet of water.
The Emergency Situations Ministry said that about 1,800 crew members were involved in cleaning the streets and helping to pump out water.
On Wednesday, the Russian government said the situation was under control and that local rivers had begun to recede.
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The airport and railway station were functional. Rainfall is supposed to continue all week.
Nearby villages were also hit with flooding and mudslides, with some having been evacuated by emergency personnel.
Reuters reported that Alexander Zhukov, the head of the Russian Olympic Committee, said that Sochi would still be ready for the Games, which begin February 7.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has also said that the Games will go ahead as planned.
This video, posted on YouTube on Sept. 24, purportedly shows the floods. GlobalPost was not able to independently verify the video:
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