Armenia’s government announced on Thursday that it will seek assistance from foreign governments and international donors to reconstruct roads, bridges, and other infrastructure in the country’s northern regions, which were damaged by weekend floods.
Rivers in the Tavush and Lori provinces burst their banks early Sunday, killing four people, flooding cities and villages, and seriously damaging local infrastructure. This was the country’s worst flood in decades.
“The scale of the disaster is huge,” remarked Gnel Sanosian, Minister of Territorial Administration and Infrastructures, during a cabinet meeting in Yerevan.
Sanosian, who leads a government task force dealing with the disaster’s aftermath, said the material damage is so severe that authorities are still calculating it. He singled out the total or partial demolition of approximately 20 bridges in the area.
Both Pashinian and Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan said that some of those partners have already expressed readiness to assist Armenia in the post-flood reconstruction.
Two of the destroyed bridges connected the Lori town of Akhtala and six nearby villages to the rest of the country. Those communities remained largely cut off from the outside world on Thursday. Rescue workers supplied their residents with food and other basic necessities through a local forest.
The floods also caused significant damage to numerous portions of Armenia’s two major highways leading to its main border crossing with Georgia. According to Sanosian, both highways are barely usable following recent emergency repairs.
The M6 highway, which runs parallel to Armenia’s only train connection to Georgia, was particularly badly damaged. More than two kilometers of rail track were reportedly washed away by flood waters.
According to Pashinian, Russia’s national railway company, which controls the Armenian railway network, has vowed to replace the damaged parts “in the shortest possible time.”
