Russia declares emergency in Dagestan's capital as floods cut power to more than 327,000 people - 6 killed (UPDATE)

Ksenia Orlova
Reuters
Sat, 28 Mar 2026 15:36 UTC

© Emergency Ministry of Russia

Emergency specialists evacuate residents from a flooded district in the city of Makhachkala in the Caucasus region of Dagestan, Russia, in this picture released March 28, 2026.

Authorities in the capital of the southern Russian region of Dagestan declared a ​state of emergency on Saturday after heavy ‌rainfall led to widespread flooding and power cuts in the region.

"Emergency services have been placed on high alert, ​efforts are under way to deal with ​the aftermath, and assistance will be provided ⁠to affected residents," the Makhachkala city administration ​said on Telegram.

More than 327,000 people remain without ​power in Dagestan due to bad weather, the regional ministry of emergency situations said.

"As of 12:00 (Moscow time, 0900 GMT), ​283 settlements with a population of 327,183 ​people, including 89,705 children, remain without electricity," the ministry said ‌on ⁠its website.

The region's head Sergei Melikov said that the emergency services and officials had been preparing for worsening weather conditions, but the actual situation "exceeded ​even the ​most pessimistic ⁠forecasts".

Officials in Dagestan's second-largest city of Khasavyurt said a railway bridge had ​been damaged due to heavy rainfall.

"Two ​spans ⁠of the bridge collapsed on the Khasavyurt - Kadiyurt section of the North Caucasus Railway," Dagestan's government press ⁠service ​said.

The heavy rain in the ​region is set to continue until Sunday, according to forecasts.

Comment: Update April 8

News.az reports:

The death toll from the flooding in Russia's Caucasian Dagestan region has risen to six, following the discovery of an elderly woman's body, according to the regional office of the Russian Emergency Ministry on Tuesday.

"In Mikhaylovka, volunteers and rescuers found the body of a missing resident born in 1947 under the rubble. The number of victims of the flooding in Dagestan has reached six people," it said in a statement, News.Az reports, citing foreign media.

The Russian Hydrometeorological Center declared an orange-level weather warning in the region, the second-highest on the color scale of weather warnings, indicating dangerous weather conditions with the likelihood of natural disasters and damage.

Residents and visitors of the region are urged to take precautions.

Work continues in Dagestan to address the aftermath of heavy rains that led to widespread flooding in several districts in late March and early April.

The situation remains difficult in the regional administrative center, the city of Makhachkala, as well as the Khasavyurt and Derbent districts, where dozens of homes, cars and garden plots have been flooded.

Several bridges were washed away by the adverse weather. A local-level state of emergency and a heightened alert regime have been declared in the region.