150 killed in Black Sea flash floods Most of the victims were residents of the town of Krymsk, in the Krasnodar region, where water reached second-floor level following torrential rain on Friday evening. President Vladimir Putin ordered an investigation after visiting several villages and flying over the flood-hit area in a helicopter on Saturday. Rumours spread quickly that sluice gates had been opened at the Neberdzhayevsky reservoir in hills above Krymsk, contributing to the disaster. Mr Putin said that was "technically impossible" but the Investigative Committee appeared to contradict his assessment, saying that the gates had opened several times automatically. On Sunday, however, the committee concluded the water discharges "did not affect the development of the tragic events." A prominent local ecologist agreed. Video footage from the area showed helicopters plucking survivors from roof tops in the worst hit areas. Elsewhere, people waded from ruined homes through thigh-high water. Upturned cars and uprooted trees clogged streets and yards. About 2,800 people were evacuated and 30,000 left without electricity. Many of those who perished were said to be elderly people who drowned after being caught unawares by the night-time flood, which one official likened to a tsunami. Earlier, two months' rainfall had fallen in a few hours, causing rivers to overflow. The Russian government has been accused of poor management of recent natural disasters. Tens of thousands of people died as a result of wild fires across Russia in 2010, which were caused, say critics, by the disbanding three years earlier of a centralised system of forest protection. People whose homes were completely destroyed in the floods will receive about 100,000 roubles (£2,000) compensation, according to the emergencies ministry. Sixty two people died in floods in the same region of Krasnodar in 2002.