A view of Chabua Amirejibi highway, linking Tamarashvili street with the Heroes Square. Vere river ran over the significant portions of the highway, causing substantial damage. Photo: Guram Muradov/Civil.ge

Devastating flood in central parts of Tbilisi overnight on Sunday claimed the lives of at least 12 people, left dozens of families without houses, damaged major road and destroyed significant part of the zoo.

24 people are missing, according to Interior Minister Vakhtang Gomelauri.

Tbilisi mayor Davit Narmania said it will take “tens of millions” of lari to repair damage caused by the flood.

Vere river was dammed up by a large landslide, caused by heavy rainfall, on Tskneti-Betania road outside Tbilisi, which then burst, sending torrent of water down towards the capital city, Infrastructure Minister Nodar Javakhishvili said.

As a result, normally small stream of Vere, which runs in the Tbilisi center across Vake and Saburtalo districts, turned into a raging river.

About 36 people were hospitalized; most of them have already been discharged from hospitals, according to the deputy healthcare minister.

Floodwaters started to subside from early hours of Sunday.

A view of Chabua Amirejibi highway, linking Tamarashvili street with the Heroes Square. Vere river ran over the significant portions of the highway, causing substantial damage. Photo: Guram Muradov/Civil.ge

Svanidze Street in Vake, which is crossed by Vere river, is among the worst hit areas. Photo: Eana Korbezashvili/Civil.ge

A screengrab from Rustavi 2 TV footage showing a bear cub. Tbilisi zoo said it lost about half of its animals, among them lions, tigers, bears and wolves. Most of them are thought to be killed by flooding, but some have escaped. Some of those animals, which survived the flooding, were shot by law enforcement officers or re-captured and returned back to the zoo. Search of some animals was still ongoing on Sunday. A hippopotamus was subdued with a tranquilizer gun on Hero’s Square, close to the zoo.

Svanidze Street in Vake, which is crossed by Vere river, is among the worst hit areas. Photo: Eana Korbezashvili/Civil.ge

Tbilisi zoo. Photo: Guram Muradov/Civil.ge

Svanidze Street in Vake, which is crossed by Vere river, is among the worst hit areas. Photo: Eana Korbezashvili/Civil.ge

Tbilisi zoo. Photo: Guram Muradov/Civil.ge

A view of Tbilisi zoo from Chabua Amirejibi highway. Photo: Guram Muradov/Civil.ge

A view of Tbilisi zoo from Chabua Amirejibi highway. Photo: Guram Muradov/Civil.ge

Chabua Amirejibi highway. Photo: Guram Muradov/Civil.ge

Chabua Amirejibi highway. Photo: Guram Muradov/Civil.ge

Vere river at Chabua Amirejibi highway. Photo: Guram Muradov/Civil.ge

Tbilisi zoo. Photo: Guram Muradov/Civil.ge

Rescuers from the emergency service recover a dead body of a woman from a flooded house on Svanidze street. Photo: Eana Korbezashvili/Civil.ge

Svanidze street. Photo: Eana Korbezashvili/Civil.ge

Photo: Eana Korbezashvili/Civil.ge

Svanidze street. Photo: Eana Korbezashvili/Civil.ge

Photo: Guram Muradov/Civil.ge

Chabua Amirejibi highway. Part of the Mziuri park also seen. Photo: Guram Muradov/Civil.ge

Photo: Guram Muradov/Civil.ge

Photo: Guram Muradov/Civil.ge

Parts of Tskneti street in Vake at Vere river was also hit. Photo: Eana Korbezashvili/Civil.ge

Relief efforts are underway, clearing affected streets; volunteers turned out in large number offering their help in clearing works.