It resulted in at least 20[1] human deaths and struck the Tbilisi Zoo, leaving half of its animal inhabitants either dead or on the loose.

[4] After several hours of intense rain on June 13, 2015, a landslide occurred above the village of Akhaldaba, which is located about 20 km southwest of Tbilisi.

A million m3 of land, mud, and trees were carried by the landslide as it moved into Tbilisi and dammed up the Vere River twice, first at a 10 m wide channel at Tamarashvili Street and then at a channel beneath Heroes' Square, a significant traffic intersection that was connected to Tamarashvili Street by the Vere Valley Highway.

Several surviving inhabitants of the zoo—a hippopotamus, big cats, wolves, bears, and hyenas—escaped from destroyed pens and cages to the streets of Tbilisi and a police unit was employed to round them up.

[12] The media ran footage showing the hippopotamus making its way to a flooded Heroes' Square, one of Tbilisi's major roadway hubs, where it was subdued with a tranquilizer dart.

[15] An African penguin was found at the Red Bridge border crossing with Azerbaijan, having swum some 60 km south from Tbilisi.

Many governments of the world, such Latvia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Turkey, Ukraine, Lithuania,[12] the United States,[18] and Russia[19] offered their help.