SLEPTSOVSK (Russia) June 23: More than 200 Russian were feared dead Sunday as a result of flash floods that engulfed war-torn Chechnya and neighbouring regions of the North Caucasus, driving over 75,000 people from their homes, the interior ministry said.

The official death toll rose Sunday along with floodwater in the wake of torrential rain that destroyed houses, roads, bridges and claimed the lives of at least 46 people, the emergencies ministry said.

However, reports that 180 people were missing, presumed dead, in the Stavropol territory bordering Chechnya sparked fears that the authorities’ failure to respond quickly to unseasonal storms hitting the region Thursday had caused a major tragedy.

Meanwhile, in typical reaction to growing public alarm, the Kremlin moved Sunday to scapegoat regional officials in the North Caucasus for being inadequately prepared for the floods.

Russian President Vladimir Putin’s special envoy to south Russia, Viktor Kazantsev, criticised the region’s top officials for “wasting time in undertaking the emergency effort and inaction” in the worst affected areas, ITAR-TASS reported. Police had yet to identify 12 of the bodies that had been discovered in the Stavropol region.—AFP