At least three people have drowned in the floods. The flood waters are expected to start receding during Thursday.
Roni Kuronen,
Ilmari Reunamäki
As a result of the destruction of the Kahovka hydropower plant and dam in the Kherson region of Ukraine, an area of approximately 600 square kilometers is still covered in water on Thursday morning. More than two-thirds of the areas covered by floodwaters are in Russian-occupied areas south of the Dnieper.
Governor of Kherson region Oleksandr Prokudin said early Thursday that the average water level in the flood zone is 5.6 meters.
A think tank Institute for the Study of War assesses in his daily report that the floodwater on the Dnieper following the destruction of the dam has destroyed the Russian defense positions on the south bank of the river.
According to Thursday’s intelligence report from the British Ministry of Defense, the flood waters are expected to start receding during Thursday.
The destruction of the dam has claimed the first lives
In Ukraine, the destruction of the Kahovka dam has led to the death of three people, says the fugitive mayor of the city of Oleshkin Yevhen Ryštšuk. An online magazine reported on the matter Kyiv Independent.
Oleshkin is located in the Kherson region on the southern bank of the lower reaches of the Dnieper.
According to Ryšchuk, the three dead people drowned.
– There is information that the Russians do not let people out of flooded residential areas, Ryštšuk says.
The floods currently extend to 30 population centers in the Hersoni region. Ukrainian authorities have estimated that the floods will affect around 42,000 people on both sides of the Dnieper.
In Russian-controlled areas, more than 14,000 houses have been destroyed and more than 4,000 people have been evacuated from the floodwaters, according to the Russian state-owned information agency Tass. In the liberated areas of Ukraine, the figures are significantly lower. About 2,000 houses have been destroyed and more than 1,500 people have been evacuated.
As a result of the dam collapse, about 180,000 Ukrainians are currently without clean drinking water due to depleted water reserves. The Ukrainian army has delivered bottles of water to people stuck in the middle of the floods with the help of drones.
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyi has said that he is upset that the Red Cross and the UN have not come to the aid of the rescue work in the area of the collapsed Kahovka dam.
In addition to the immediate distress, floodwaters have destroyed irrigation systems used in agriculture and transported mines placed on the banks of the Dnieper to random locations.
Building a new dam is difficult
According to Ukraine’s state-owned energy company Ukrhydroenergo, the construction of a new hydropower plant will take at least five years and cost almost one billion euros.
– It is a very complex hydropower plant and its reconstruction will take a long time. However, we are already planning a new construction project for the same location, the head of Ukrhydroenergo Ihor Syrota says.
However, building a new dam is not possible – until Ukraine has freed the area from Russian occupation.
For now, Ukrainian authorities are trying to solve the water shortage by drilling new wells in Kherson and Mykolaiv regions.