Dozens of evacuees on an island in the Dnieper River had to flee rising floodwaters caused by the breach of a dam upstream. A stalled military truck in the midst of the swollen waters raised the panic level as Red Cross teams tried to manage an orderly evacuation. This was all happening while shelling from Russia’s war on Ukraine echoed overhead. There was great uncertainty about the combination of these two calamitous forces and nobody knew just how high the waters rushing through the gaping hole in the Kakhovka dam would rise, or whether people or pets would escape alive. The rushed evacuation by boat and military truck from an island neighborhood off the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson downstream on Tuesday attests to one more human tragedy caused by Russia’s war in Ukraine, according to the AP.
Ukrainian authorities accused Russian forces of purposely destroying the dam. Russian authorities blamed recent Ukrainian military strikes. “The Russians have hit the dam, and didn’t think of consequences,” said Oleksandr Sokeryn, who fled his house with his family after it was completely flooded. “They should not be forgiven.” Officials on both sides said the massive dam breach had caused no civilian casualties, and the hurried escape was aimed to keep it that way. The island neighborhood was one residential area in the direct slipstream of Tuesday’s catastrophe, which experts said was expected to play out over days as pent-up waters from the Kakhovka reservoir wash their way unhindered on way to the Black Sea.
The impact of the damage may not be immediately known and it could take days to assess the real toll. In the early morning, before the floodwaters arrived, many residents tried to stay put. But as the water level climbed in the streets, rising nearly to the tops of bus stops or the second floor of buildings, national guard teams and emergency crews fanned out to retrieve people who were stranded. Officials reported about 22,000 people live in areas at risk of flooding in Russian-controlled areas on the eastern side of the river, while 16,000 live in the most critical zone on the western side, which is Ukrainian-held territory, similar to the areas evacuated on Tuesday.
The United Nations confirmed that at least 16,000 people have already lost their homes and efforts are underway to provide water, money, and legal and emotional support to those affected. “While towns and villages in downstream Dnieper River are going under water, the human and environmental cost of the destruction of the Kakhovka dam is a huge humanitarian disaster—and the international community must unite to bring those responsible to justice,” said Amnesty International’s regional director for Eastern Europe, Marie Struthers. (Read more Russia-Ukraine war stories.)
