Hello and welcome to Regions Calling, your guide to news beyond the Russian capital from The Moscow Times.

This week, we zoom in on the North Caucasus, where two republics are grappling with catastrophic floods after experiencing their heaviest rainfall in decades.

People in dozens of other regions have been closely watching this situation unfold, knowing that their battle with spring floods is also imminent.

But first, here is what else happened in the regions:

The Headlines