KRASNODAR, Russia -- Eighteen people, most of them women holidaymakers, were found dead Friday on Russia's Black Sea coast after flash floods that destroyed several campsites, the Emergencies Ministry said.

Six others were missing feared drowned in the Black Sea following the floods, which were caused by torrential rains that hit the region Wednesday, and local officials warned that the death toll could mount.

A team of emergency workers sent from Moscow found 16 bodies in the village of Shirokaya Balka, which lies some 16 kilometers (10 miles) from Russia's southern city of Novorossiisk, officials said.

Earlier, police found the bodies of two people in the neighboring resort village of Abrau-Dyurso, where a lake overflowed, sweeping away another campsite.

A correspondent for Kuban TV, a local channel from the nearby city of Krasnodar, reported that holidaymakers in Shirokaya Balka feared that up to 30 people could have died.

People in the disaster zone, a scene of chaos littered with ruined houses, said they were furious at the local authorities for their failure to provide any warning or help after the flood struck.

"Where is the Emergency Ministry? They are not here to save us," a 50-year-old woman said.

The flood struck at around noon on Thursday, but the first rescuers to arrive at Shirokaya Balka in the early hours of Friday had flown from Moscow and the local emergency workers were nowhere to be seen.

The ministry dispatched an airplane from Moscow carrying 50 rescue workers and emergency supplies and evacuated more than 1,000 people from the disaster area.

The flash floods around the region, where a month's worth of rain poured down over the past 24 hours, engulfed campsites and flooded 15 villages on the coast, said an emergency official in Krasnodar, AFP reported.

In Novorossiisk, mudflows swept away some houses and cars, the city's senior official Viktor Gritsai was quoted as saying by the Interfax news agency. He warned that the casualty toll could rise.

A total 23 houses were leveled and 90 more were damaged by the floods, and part of the city had no electricity supplies.

Storm warnings were still in force across the region, with more rains feared later in the day.

Southern Russia has already been hit by flooding earlier this summer.

In June, a massive flood swept through southern regions, killing 114 people and destroying nearly 13,000 houses.

Those floods affected 310,000 people, forcing the evacuation of around 106,000 residents, and prompted prosecutors to open investigations into negligence that may have caused one of the most serious catastrophes in Russia in the past few years.