Deadly Black Sea storm unleashes giant waves, flooding and heavy snow

At least four deaths and more than a dozen injuries were reported along the Black Sea coast of Russia, near the Greek island of Lesbos and in Ukraine from a powerful storm that produced strong winds, flooding rainfall, high waves and heavy snow across the region during the weekend into Monday.

The storm, which European meteorologists named “Bettina,” developed Saturday in the Adriatic Sea before moving toward Greece. The storm explosively intensified Sunday over the Black Sea, generating wind gusts near 75 mph, waves upward of 30 feet and crippling amounts of snow. Reports on social media showed ferocious waves and flooding in Sochi and Balaklava , as well as a house collapsing in Crimea.

News reports also showed extensive damage along the waterfront of Halkidiki in northern Greece.

Three people died Monday — one in Sochi, Russia, one on the Crimean Peninsula and another onboard a vessel in the Kerch Strait — according to Reuters . The news agency also reported the evacuation of more than 350 people and nearly 2 million people without power in southern Russia, Russian-held Crimea and Ukraine.

This is Storm Bettina as it slammed Sochi, SW Russia.
Now cleared to the north. #weather pic.twitter.com/KVG1rPvbXd

— November 27, 2023 Another person was killed and 12 were missing when a cargo ship sank Sunday off the coast of Lesbos, the Associated Press reported . The ship was on its way to Istanbul from Egypt when it reportedly took on water. A coast guard spokeswoman told the AP that rough seas were complicating rescue operations.

In southern Russia, a cargo ship ran aground near Anapa, where the storm also blew the roof off a five-story building, and crude oil loading was halted at Novorossiysk, the AP reported. More than 20 crew members from Syria, India and Egypt were stranded on the ship, according to Nexta , a media outlet based in Belarus.

On the northern side of the storm, cold air and abundant moisture were producing blizzard conditions in Ukraine. Thirteen people were injured in the Odessa region, which sits on the northwestern Black Sea coast, where snow drifts more than six feet high stranded thousands of vehicles and caused power outages, Reuters reported .

Blizzard-like conditions also caused power outages and traffic accidents in Romania, Moldova, Bulgaria, Serbia and the Moscow region, according to the Associated Press . It also reported in Crimea the closure of schools and hospitals, disruptions to water supplies and heating, a problem at a gas pipeline, and the deaths of 800 exotic fish at an aquarium.

As the storm entered the Black Sea on Sunday, its pressure had dropped as low as 968 millibars — which is comparable to a Category 2 or 3 hurricane. Its pressure dropped about 20 millibars from the previous day, nearly meeting the meteorological criteria for a “bomb cyclone,” which is a 24-millibar drop in 24 hours. Typically, the lower the pressure, the stronger the storm.

Meteorologists said there was a chance the storm’s low pressure reading would set a record.

The storm was slowly weakening and lifting north on Monday, with wind-swept snow exiting Ukraine but pasting western Russia. Moscow was reporting snow and gusty winds Monday evening local time.

Weather models showed that winds could flare up again Tuesday in the northwestern Black Sea ahead of yet another storm that could bring heavy rain and snow to the region.

Storm Bettina hit only a week after another storm wreaked havoc along Turkey’s Black Sea coast. That storm killed nine people, sank a cargo ship and broke another ship in two, the AP reported .