Yulia Stenina, a city resident who got into a Lada Largus car blown up by the water element, told socialbites.ca how events unfolded in Sochi on the night of July 24. At that time, her friend Anastasia, who was visiting from Belarus, was driving.
“We were confused, everything happened in a few minutes. I say: Nastya, turn the car, let’s go back, but it was too late.
We turned in a creek and moved down to Donskaya Street, ”
– Stenina recalls in an interview with socialbites.ca.
According to him, the car was nailed to the side of the road in a stormy creek. The passenger and then the driver got out of the vehicle. This became possible due to the fact that the women managed to open the windows on time – then the car stopped and the electrics stopped working. Then Largus smashed a taxi car brought by the current from above.
“Then the cars started breaking down in a creek. We were also lucky to be in the first row and washed to the side of the road, ”says the interlocutor,“
A car of the Ministry of Emergencies passed, we waved at them, they waved at us and drove on.”
The damaged vehicle was later evacuated by its own means. Door and hood damaged, engine malfunction, very wet inside.
“We did not leave the car on the street with the windows open. Friends called, helped to drag the car on a cable. Now it stands in the courtyard of the house where we live, ”said a Sochi resident.
According to him, the preliminary cost of car engine repairs is estimated at at least 80 thousand rubles. It takes another 20,000 to clean the inside. The injured driver and his friend cannot reach the authorities, and they do not get in touch.
“The phone number of the “helpline” that is indicated on the Telegram channel and does not answer on the website of the administration, they do not pick up the phone there.
Shortly after the flood, Sochi authorities set a condition for compensation for the affected property – in particular, cars must stay where the water carries them. However, many citizens did not know about this and independently began to save their property from rubble.
“And today we read that compensation can only be received by those whose cars have been officially evacuated. Because they needed to seize the moment. But if we drowned, then we drowned, any examination will confirm this,” explains Stenina.
socialbites.ca contacted the press service of the Sochi administration with questions about compensation for owners of affected vehicles, including drivers who came to the region as tourists, and the procedure for obtaining them, but the editorial office did not receive a substantial response. .
Regional media reported that as of July 25, the department of transport and road facilities of the Sochi administration, together with the traffic police and the evacuation service, had already transported 90 cars affected by heavy rain.
“If there is no insurance, we will try to take measures within the framework of the law. Let’s look at the scale of what happened and how we can help.
We don’t promise anything for now.
Now 120 drowned cars are registered,” he said. leads to Words of Sochi Mayor Alexei Kopaygorodsky, Sochi Express edition
The socialbites.ca correspondent repeatedly tried to call the indicated phone number of the mayor on matters related to the elimination of the consequences of the disaster, which was broadcast on the mayor’s website and on the mayor’s Telegram channel. city of Alexei Kopaygorodsky.
After establishing connection and a few beeps, the call was dropped.
What shall we do
Lawyers explain that it is extremely difficult to obtain compensation in court if there are no instructions from the authorities to compensate injured drivers.
Often, such situations are considered force majeure, and even if the car is insured under CASCO, in order to receive compensation, the insurance contract must provide protection for such a risk, a lawyer, senior partner of the law firm Bashilov, Noskov and Partners, socialbites.ca Explains to Boris Bashilov.
“Potentially compensation from the authorities can only be obtained if it is determined that the preconditions for the development of this situation are established,
or the authorities were ineffective and contributed to the damage, ”Bashilov told socialbites.ca. – Unless, of course, a special state law is passed stating that the authorities are ready to compensate for the damage. But that depends on how much the authorities are willing to help.”
For example, if the wrong content of storm sewers is determined, responsibility will be borne by those to whom it relates, but, as practice shows, they rarely admit their guilt without going to court. The attorney adds that substantial efforts are needed to prove this.
Those seeking compensation should contact the police to record damage to property – this should be done even if the flooded car was removed from the scene on its own, the lawyer said.
“Furthermore, the fact that the administration has improperly maintained road or storm sewers will need to be proven in relation to a particular incident.
If, according to the documents, it complies with all state standards, it is very difficult to prove the guilt of the authorities, ”the lawyer of the Automobile Freedom of Choice movement, Sergey Radko, told socialbites.ca.
According to him, it is necessary to be in the process already to apply to the administration or the balancer of the road with a claim and to find out which contracting companies are responsible for it.
It is also very likely that an inspection will be carried out to ensure that the drainage system complies with standards and design documents,
compares the parameters with the meteorological data on the amount of precipitation.
In this case, it will be necessary to sue at the defendant’s location, and the attorney notes that it will be more difficult for a non-resident driver to attend meetings for several years than a local resident.
Source: Gazeta
