14 dead, hundreds of zoo animals wiped out in Georgia floods

Nine people were missing in Georgia's capital Tbilisi today, a day after freak floods killed 14 people and swept away zoo animals, some of which were shot after being found prowling the streets.
The death toll from the worst floods to hit Tbilisi in decades climbed to 14 after rescuers found an elderly man in the rubble of a destroyed house and another dead person in a park, officials said.
Nine people were still missing as of this evening, a government official said, down from an earlier count of 20.
The small Vere River running through the city of 1.2 million burst its banks yesterday after hours of torrential rain, paralysing Tbilisi and wrecking the city's zoo.

More than half the zoo's around 600 animals, birds and fish had perished, a spokeswoman said.
Many of the animals, including monkeys and penguins, drowned in the muddy waters.

Others, including lions, tigers and even a hippopotamus escaped but by this evening all the missing animals had either been recaptured or shot dead by police, zoo spokeswoman Mzia Sharashidze told AFP.
Officials had said earlier today that two tigers, a bear, and a jackal were still on the loose. It was unclear whether they were captured or shot.
Some animals, including two bear cubs, found kilometres from the zoo were returned to their enclosures.

Over the past decades Tbilisi has repeatedly suffered severe flooding, including in 1967, when the floodwaters also carted off zoo animals, said Sharashidze.
Tbilisi Zoo director Zurab Gurielidze and his wife nearly perished trying to save the animals from the floods.
"Everything has been done to save as many animals as possible," a teary-eyed Gurielidze said last night.
"Special forces only opened fire at the animals -- such as tigers and lions -- that posed a threat to humans," he said.
Three zookeepers died in the flood, including a woman who had her hand amputated last month after a tiger attacked her.

Authorities declared a day of mourning as Georgians described scenes of chaos, saying the disaster caught the city off guard.
Survivor Bela Gvelesiani, whose house was destroyed by the flood, said that "everything happened in just two minutes.
"I looked through the window and saw that the river was in my courtyard. I can't remember how we managed to get out. At first the water reached our ankles and in a split second we were up to our necks.