After a devastating flood killed more than half of its animals, Georgia's Tbilisi zoo has reopened. Among animals greeting visitors was the hippo which had escaped to a nearby city square. The floods three months ago in Tbilisi killed more than half of the zoo's 600 animals, including a score of tigers, lions and jaguars. Rainstorms in June caused the Vere River to overflow, killing 19 people as water swept through neighborhoods in the capital of Georgia, the former Soviet republic in the Caucasus. Begi, the zoo's hippopotamus had escaped during the flood. It was found walking through a flooded city square nearby. Director of the zoo, Zurab Gurielidze, said some new animals had been born since the deluge. There are plans to acquire others by next spring. The zoo currently has 300 animals.



A hippopotamus named Begi walks inside its enclosure at the zoo in Tbilisi, Georgia, September 13, 2015. Tbilisi zoo, which was partly destroyed and some 300 animals escaped or died in the floods that also killed at least 19 people in June, was reopened on Sunday. (Photo by David Mdzinarishvili/Reuters)





Zurab Gurielidze, a director of the Tbilisi Zoo, speaks to the media while standing next to a hippopotamus named Begi at the zoo in Tbilisi, Georgia, September 13, 2015. (Photo by David Mdzinarishvili/Reuters)





A hippopotamus named Begi walks inside its enclosure at the zoo in Tbilisi, Georgia, September 13, 2015. (Photo by David Mdzinarishvili/Reuters)





A hippopotamus named Begi stands inside its enclosure behind a poster depicting newspapers with its pictures on front pages at the zoo in Tbilisi, Georgia, September 13, 2015. (Photo by David Mdzinarishvili/Reuters)





A hippopotamus named Begi stands inside its enclosure behind a poster depicting newspapers with its pictures on front pages at the zoo in Tbilisi, Georgia, September 13, 2015. (Photo by David Mdzinarishvili/Reuters)





A lioness lies inside its enclosure at the zoo in Tbilisi, Georgia, September 13, 2015. (Photo by David Mdzinarishvili/Reuters)





Lions sit inside their enclosure at the zoo in Tbilisi, Georgia, September 13, 2015. (Photo by David Mdzinarishvili/Reuters)





A lioness lies inside its enclosure at the zoo in Tbilisi, Georgia, September 13, 2015. (Photo by David Mdzinarishvili/Reuters)





People watch a lioness lying inside its enclosure at the zoo in Tbilisi, Georgia, September 13, 2015. (Photo by David Mdzinarishvili/Reuters)





A rhinoceros lies inside its enclosure at the zoo in Tbilisi, Georgia, September 13, 2015. (Photo by David Mdzinarishvili/Reuters)





People take picture in front of an elephant in its enclosure at the zoo in Tbilisi, Georgia, September 13, 2015. (Photo by David Mdzinarishvili/Reuters)





A hippopotamus named Begi walks inside its enclosure at the zoo in Tbilisi, Georgia, September 13, 2015. (Photo by David Mdzinarishvili/Reuters)