Snihurivka in southeastern Ukraine thought it had escaped the destructive sweep of Russia’s invasion when Kyiv’s troops liberated the town last November after eight months of often brutal occupation.
The grim reality surged last week, when a breach of the huge Kakhovka dam blamed on Russian forces sent billions of cubic metres of water racing down the Dnipro river and up the smaller Inhulets tributary, which weaves past Snihurivka and dozens of villages on its way towards the Black Sea.
A week on, much of this poor, rural area still does not have running water because its wells are inundated; electricity is only now being fully restored; and the viability of hundreds of flooded houses and vital infrastructure – including roads, bridges and major water pumping station for the wider region – is uncertain.
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“More than 360 buildings have been at least partially flooded and we don’t know if they will be habitable,” said Ivan Kukhta, head of Snihurivka’s military administration.
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“People see their walls and a roof still standing and want to go home. But some of these houses are 70-80 years old, built partly with clay and stones and they’re full of cracks, and it might be that it is only the floodwater that’s holding them together,” he said.
“Add that to the more than 1,500 buildings damaged by the war – 260 of which have been totally destroyed – and you see what we’re facing. This has had a really severe impact.”
Locals watched appalled as the Inhulets swelled and then burst its banks, growing to be more than a kilometre wide at a point where its normal span is just 50 metres.
“We had no idea what was coming on the morning of the flood,” said Vita Bardizh, head of the nearby village of Novovasylivka.
“Some said the floodwater won’t reach here and not to worry, but by about midmorning the water was starting to rise and a few people began to panic. In the end it rose by about six metres. We knew which areas were in danger and offered to help people leave, but some didn’t want to go. In the end, 64 buildings in our village were flooded, some partially and some right up to the roof,” she said.
“People’s kitchen gardens have been flooded and a lot of pasture for animal grazing, too. It will make life hard here if that land is ruined.”
