Moscow, Jul 16 (IANS): Russia will allocate nine billion rubles (around $280 million) to restore the southern town of Krymsk that was severally damaged by floods caused by torrential rains, RIA Novosti reported.

The fund would be allocated by the Krasnodar regional administration as well as the federal government.

"We'll restore the town, social facilities and infrastructure. We'll be building a new neighbourhood with a school and a hospital. A total of nine billion rubles have been allocated from the federal and regional budgets for restoring the town of Krymsk," Krasnodar governor Alexander Tkachyov said at a meeting with local residents.

The floods, which hit three cities in south Russia July 7, killed at least 171 people and flooded 7,000 homes, causing massive damage to gas, electricity and water supplies and road and rail links. Most of the deaths occurred in Krymsk.

More than 1,300 houses in Krymsk were damaged by the floods.

The disaster, caused by torrential rains flooding the mountain rivers, caught many locals unaware, especially in Krymsk, which accounted for the most deaths and property damage.

Many residents claimed they never received any storm warning. District authorities said they launched a news ticker on local television and sent out mass text messages, but the power was out before the flood, shutting off TV sets, and the text messages mostly arrived late and in truncated form.