Empty cages and damaged buildings covered in mud are all that remain of the Tbilisi Zoo in Tbilisi, Georgia, after a June 13-14, 2015, flood. A mudslide and raging waters overflowed culverts throughout the city. According to Georgia Ministry of Envir...
TBILISI, Georgia (July 30, 2015) -- Recent floodwaters from the Vere River carved out chunks of earth large enough to create new rivers at sections throughout the Georgian capital of Tbilisi.
"It was like a fire hose blasted through the city," said Doug Wesemann, a structural engineer for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, or USACE, Europe District, who described the torrent of water that raged down the Vere River valley, June 13-14, and damaged the capital city.
Local news reports estimated the flood took 20 human lives and killed more than 300 animals from the Tbilisi Zoo.
Wesemann, who also serves on the USACE Search and Rescue team, joined Capt. Samantha Turner of U.S. Army Europe's 598th Engineer Detachment as part of a cadre of engineers, Georgian emergency-management experts and U.S. Embassy representatives that assessed the damaged city, July 12-17. Thanks to the cooperation between Georgia and U.S. European Command, the team worked collaboratively to better understand how the flooding occurred, inspect impacted structures and provide recommendations on what solutions could be implemented to help mitigate damage from future storms.
"This mission is very important because floods are a universal event that every nation has to respond to and work to prevent damage from," Turner said. "It is an opportunity for us to share best practices and learn from one another."
Because the flood generated widespread impacts, the team looked at a full range of existing structures -- from office buildings and homes to pipelines and roads -- to determine which ones need repair and which need to be rebuilt or removed altogether.
The initial findings of the report indicate that Tbilisi's series of bridged culverts -- designed to channel storm water from the city and runoff from nearby mountains -- could not handle the combination of water moving through them at 31 miles per hour and debris from an approximately 1 million cubic-meter landslide that occurred nearby.
The landslide resulted in "liquefied" earth, according to Wesemann. All of that soil, rock and earth backed up in the tunnels at each culvert crossing, creating mini-dams, which over-topped, and sent water rushing into the city and surrounding community.
Recommendations include a range of road and culvert improvements, raising bridges and overpasses, and constructing retaining walls and earthen embankments. All structural solutions aim to direct water away from key structures and homes. In addition, the team offered several communication improvements so that residents and businesses have more time to react and move away from the rising river.
"I believe the information shared during our assessment of Tbilisi will give the Georgians another perspective to consider when planning future prevention measures," Turner said.
USACE will submit its final recommendations to the U.S. Office of Defense Cooperation in Georgia by mid-August. The Corps continues providing support to Georgia through Civil-Military Emergency Preparedness workshops and expertise.
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