At least 99 people have been killed and thousands of homes flooded in torrential rain and landslides in the Krasnodar region of southern Russia.
Some of the victims were electrocuted while others were swept into the sea. Many of the dead were elderly people who had been sleeping and drowned.
Television footage showed flooded streets and people scrambling onto rooftops.
"There are lots of overturned cars, even huge trucks. Brick fences are washed away," a local resident said by telephone from the village of Novoukrainsky. "People are on the street, they are at a loss what to do. Helicopters are flying overhead, they are evacuating people from the flooded areas. The floods are really, really huge. Police advise people to choose different routes," he said.
Novorossiisk, Russia's largest Black Sea port, halted crude oil shipments, a spokesman for oil pipeline operator Transneft said. The port also suspended grain exports.
A police spokesman put the death toll in Krymsk at 67 and he said 11 people had been killed in Novorossiisk and the coastal town of Gelendzhik.
Alexander Tkachov, the governor of the Krasnodar region, urged local residents not to panic. "No one can remember such floods in our history. There was nothing of the kind for the last 70 years. More than 5,000 households were hit," he said.
The State Hydrometeorology Agency said more rain was possible on Saturday and Sunday.
The Novorossiisk port, which handles grains and metals as well as crude oil, said the outlet had cut shipping volumes.
