A lion that escaped from a zoo in the Georgian capital during freak floods at the weekend killed a man in the city centre on Wednesday, an interior ministry spokeswoman said.

"A lion from the Tbilisi zoo killed a man" near the capital's central square, the spokeswoman told AFP. "Police special forces were deployed and are hunting down the animal."

Georgian media said the lion had been hiding in a warehouse and escaped the citywide police search for the escaped animals, many of which were shot dead.

Floods hit Tbilisi on Sunday, killing at least 17 people and ravaging the city's central districts including the zoo, where hundreds of animals -- including lions, tigers, wolves and a hippo escaped.

Over half of the animals -- some 300 species -- either drowned in the muddy waters or were killed by police.

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