A YOUNG boy drowned on Friday after he was swept down a sewer as severe flooding hit the Russian World Cup city of Sochi.

Disturbing video shows the boy’s grandmother in a panic as the ten-year-old is swept away after a street effectively turned into a river.

The woman runs to the next manhole, undresses, and climbs into the hole in an attempt to save him but she was too late.

The unnamed grandmother is seen disappearing into the hole but she was later rescued.

The boy, who has not been named, was from the Russian region of Tatarstan and fell into the drainage duct after the cover was washed away by the flood.

According to local reports, the boy banged his head as he fell into the drain and was swept away.

His body was found three hours later by divers searching the nearby Black Sea.

The grandmother is currently recovering in intensive care in the local hospital.

One local said: “The severe and sudden flooding came from nowhere.”

Near Sochi an entire family was washed away by the swollen river.

The bodies of Andrey Vinogradov, 16, and his sister Liza, four, were found later.

Their mother Ekaterina, 39, managed to swim to safety.

Her cousin Oleg, 47, was injured but survived.

The family was waiting at a bus stop when they were swept away by floodwater.

Russians reacted angrily to the lack of safety in the Sochi drainage system.

Vladimir posted: “You come here for holiday and find the sewage well open and filled with water. Somebody has to be jailed for this….

“No-one expects to fall under ground when walking on a road.

“The people who run this city have to be held accountable.”

Another message said: “The sewage cover was in place, it was washed away by force of water as it usually happens in Sochi.

“And the authorities cannot weld them shut because then the whole sewage system would burst from the pressure of water.”

Egor wrote: “When your and child’s hands are wet from rain, how can you hold on when he suddenly falls into a hole?

“And how could a tourist know that things like this might happen?

“This is not her city, even the locals don’t always know dangerous spots?

“Locals know never to go out if you are caught by a storm.

“Wait for the water to subside.”

Officials said the storm drainage system in the city had been built in the early 1960s in the form of open trenches and did not envisage the need for any safety protection such as railings.

They added that because of the strong downpours stream of water could carry metal railings away, potentially injuring people.

Sochi authorities said: “The sudden force of floods from tropical rains can breach hatches and this can be a threat to human life and health.

“The dead boy ran away from his grandmother and into the street.

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“Because of the weather, he fell into the ditch.

“The grandmother and grandson lived in the hotel on the opposite side of the street.

“The woman knew the locality and (this drainage channel).

“People were informed about the storms and rains.

“Experts repeatedly stressed that it is necessary to comply with safety measures.”