Heavy rain isolates villages in Georgia

An elderly man was involved in a three-hour rescue mission after he became isolated on a piece of land, surrounded by two flooded rivers.

Heavy rain fell today in eastern parts of the country causing two branches of Georgia’s longest river to flood.

At the time, 63-year-old Jondo Purtseladze was gathering firewood between the Alazani River branches. The strong rain caused the river to swell and the man was left isolated on a small piece of land, between the two pieces of water.

It took rescuers three hours to free Purtseladze from his post.

Meanwhile, the bad weather caused four Georgian villages in Pankisi Gorge to become isolated from the rest of the country.

Local authorities and rescue teams were mobilized at the site.

Pankisi is a valley region in the north-eastern corner of Georgia, bordering the Chechnyan republic of the Russian Federation.