Streets across central Moscow were flooded Friday afternoon after a severe thunderstorm dumped heavy rains on the city.
"People are swimming here. Water up to the knee," wrote Twitter user @zaurgazdarov, attaching a photo of a man walking in rain boots on Solyanka Ulitsa just east of the Kremlin.
Other areas that became covered in water included Bolshaya Ordynka Ulitsa, Spartakovskaya Ploshchad and Sadovnicheskaya Ulitsa, RIA-Novosti reported, citing messages by Muscovites on social networks.
A spokesman for city sewer company Mosvodostok told Interfax that 116 teams had been sent to flooded areas to help clear away the water. He said the company had received 16 requests for assistance, mainly from people in the city center, as well as from those in the western and northern districts.
Meteorologists had forecast the thunderstorm Friday morning. The downpour hit the city around 2 p.m., Lifenews.ru reported.
Two children ages 3 and 14 were hit by lightning in the storm on Alleya Zhiznya, or Life Alley, in the Strogino neighborhood in the city's northwest, Interfax reported, citing a hospital source. The children were treated for unspecified injuries.
Video posted Friday on Youtube by a user named Yana Mora showing an alley flooded by the rains in an unspecified area of Moscow.
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