At least 45 people died and thousands of houses were flooded after torrential rains, storms and landslides hit Russia's Krasnodar region near the Black Sea, a local police spokesman confirmed yesterday.

Novorossiysk, Russia's largest Black Sea port, halted crude oil shipments, a spokesman for oil pipeline operator, Transneft, said.

In Krymsk district 34 died, 11 more bodies were found in Novorossiysk and Gelendzhik and the police said they were beefing up their presence to prevent mass looting.