Kommersant’s report from flooded Orsk

On Monday, the flood situation in Orsk continued to worsen. Kommersant correspondent Polina Yachmennikova I became convinced that water had flooded new parts of the city within a day, and witnessed another dam break. Local residents have to become more active in developing boat routes, and their irritation resulted in a spontaneous rally with complaints against the city authorities. Governor Denis Pasler met with the protesters, promised them compensation for lost property and assured them that “the criminal cases will be brought to their logical conclusion.”

In the flooded areas of Orsk there is surprisingly active road traffic – not just cars, but boats. It is the residents of the “dry” streets of Orsk who help their neighbors pick up things from their houses, the path to which is cut off by the flood. Volunteer Vadim, for example, takes an elderly woman to the 6th microdistrict to get a photo album. “There are photographs of my Afghan son,” she tells a Kommersant correspondent as the boat floats up to her high-rise building. “He is abroad now, he will be upset if he drowns his memories.” The woman’s apartment is on the first floor: the water has already reached the windows, but has not yet entered the rooms. It is difficult to enter the house – the water here reaches up to your neck. Therefore, Vadim takes the keys from the woman, jumps off the boat and swims into the entrance. At the last moment, the woman changes her mind about taking out the album – she is afraid that she will get wet on the way. Therefore, she asks Vadim to move the album onto the cabinet – hoping that the water will not get there after all.

On the way back, Vadim says that he understands the desire to save the photographs: “It’s even touching. And sometimes they ask you to pick up a TV, for example, or a fur coat.” At this moment, a boat floats past, carrying a refrigerator. A little later, Vadim takes a couple of boats in tow: he has a motor, while those have only oars.

Over the course of the day, the flood situation here has noticeably worsened. On Sunday, the water ran out at the gas station advertising counter – now it takes a long swim to get there. Nearby is a nine-story building surrounded by water. The day before it was completely dry here – a Kommersant correspondent talked with a local resident on the steps of the entrance. Now only the entrance canopy is visible, and the steps and door are hidden by water. Yesterday’s acquaintance looks out of the 9th floor window. “You need to evacuate!” – Vadim shouts. But the woman refuses, and she is not alone. “As long as there is a gas cylinder, I’m not afraid of anything,” assures her neighbor (the electricity here has long been turned off).

Vadim says that in the 6th microdistrict quite a lot of residents of high floors refuse to leave. Volunteers deliver food to these “Ostavanians” on boats. “There was even a man who asked to take him out, and then I saw him in the window again,” Vadim laughs. “It turns out he went to the store on land, and then returned home on another boat. Well, I don’t mind taking him for a ride.”

But it’s more difficult to get to the Old Town, which was the first to be flooded. The boatmen flatly refuse to take “non-locals” there. “There’s a bad picture there now, you shouldn’t swim unless you have to…” the man hesitates. “You might come across the corpses of domestic animals, and maybe even someone else.” But in the end, Kommersant correspondents manage to find a guide who promises to “take you only around the outskirts” and does not even want to tell the journalists his name. Just before departure, a woman runs up to the boat and asks to hand over a package of candles “to the nearest red house.” The address is written on the package in neat handwriting.

The house you need is really very close. The water reaches the sign with the name of the street. The driver throws the package onto the second floor balcony. The owner of the apartment, hearing the noise, looks out of the window and nervously reports that she “doesn’t intend to leave here anywhere.” Seeing the candles, she relaxes and goes out onto the balcony to thank the delivery man. “I feel very good here, and with candles it will be even better,” she assures.

The guide suggests that her house was recently flooded: “In a day of living like this, she will also leave. Many from the Old City refused to leave, hid on the second floor, and were afraid of looters. But then the water reached the second floor, all the property got wet – and there was nothing to steal. At this moment, people usually remember the value of their lives – they sit on the roofs and ask to be taken away.”

The boat floats past a group of men standing on the canopy of a flooded veranda: they are pulling out a cat through the attic window. The guide suddenly turns off the engine and lifts him into the boat. “Here you have to row. Below, under the water, there are a lot of fences – we can run into the motor and get stuck,” he explains.

A blurred section of the highway is visible in the distance. “This is a blocked road to the Nikel area,” nods the boatman. Less than a day ago, Kommersant correspondents calmly passed there by car, but now the asphalt is not visible under the muddy stream. Saying goodbye, the boatman smiles sadly: “Tomorrow we will launch the boats even further into the water – the flood is growing. Probably the rest of the Old Town won’t last either.”

For a long time the village of Lesotorgovy “held out” on the outskirts of the Old Town, between the railway tracks and the dam (in Orsk, many areas are called villages from old memory). But on Monday, evacuation was announced here too. The final stop of regular buses is located on a hill – now from here buses transport residents to temporary accommodation centers. Special vehicles of the police and the Ministry of Emergency Situations can barely pass the local cars. “Since Friday, when the dam broke for the first time, we began to strengthen its area near our houses with our own forces, and the military was overtaken with bags of sand. Until the last moment we hoped that we wouldn’t have to leave,” says the girl, stuffing her suitcases into the trunk.

Oddly enough, you can safely approach the dam even now. A small group of curious people goes straight to the problem area, where a leak has already formed. They are followed by two policemen. “We’re keeping an eye on you so you don’t get washed away,” one of them laughs. And then he seriously adds: “But what can we do if this happens?” Just write a report. By the way, I even have my own fishing boots, but they don’t fit.”

The soft earth squishes more and more and tightens the boots. The water has spilled on both sides of the dam, and we have to walk almost level with it. “Forty minutes ago there was no water on the left yet,” the second policeman notes warily. “But as soon as a crack formed, it started pouring.” “It poured” is not the right word – a powerful stream of water rushes through the dam directly onto the garden plots. Suddenly the ground begins to slide down sharply. A small gap in the earthen embankment – easy to jump over if you want – immediately widens by several meters. The police, apparently not wanting to write a report, yell at the onlookers: “Come on, run back along the dam! Just be careful—it’s not clear where else it will break through!” Running on sticky wet ground in rubber boots is very uncomfortable.

After the dam breaks, a siren begins to howl in the village. Calls for urgent evacuation are heard from loudspeakers – and then water comes to the streets of the village. In less than an hour, real lakes glisten near the dense fences of private houses. “Well, we asked and warned,” complains a man entering the evacuation bus. He has a kitten in his hands.

By evening, the irritation of city residents resulted in a spontaneous rally near the Orsk administration building in New Town. Several hundred people gathered there, dissatisfied with the amount of promised compensation and the “lack of effective measures to combat the flood.” The majority of those gathered emotionally demanded the resignation of Mayor Vasily Kozupitsa, recalling his careless words “everything is fine with the dam.” “At night we were washed away overnight, but the day before they promised that we wouldn’t even be flooded,” the man was indignant, making an obscene gesture towards the city administration. The police rather sluggishly called for people to disperse, but people kept coming. Later, the mayor came out of the building – and the crowd exploded with shouts of “Shame!” The mayor was offered to “live on the first floor of a flooded house himself.” Mr. Kozupitsa tried to answer something, but without a loudspeaker, even people who came close could not hear him. Ten minutes later, several people from the administration came to the aid of the city mayor – they offered to assemble an “initiative group” and go to a meeting with the Governor of the Orenburg region Denis Pasler, “who is already waiting for you in the building.” As expected, there were a lot of people interested, but only people from the front rows were able to get inside. Mayor Kozupica remained in the crowd to answer questions. They brought him a microphone and speakers, but they did not work. “They can’t even set this up, but they were entrusted with managing the city,” the Orsk resident rolled her eyes. A few minutes later, Vasily Kozupitsa, with his microphone not working, retreated to the administration building, and people began to disperse.

Meanwhile, the initiative group talked with the governor for almost two hours. The meeting began in a raised voice – Mr. Pasler first of all demanded that those gathered “put away their phones,” which caused dissatisfaction among the residents. Later they decided to keep the phones. A Ural56.ru correspondent present at the meeting reported that the group participants were interested in issues of compensation and responsibility of officials for breaking the dam. Mr. Pasler assured that “everyone will receive payments,” and the affected businesses will be compensated with funds to pay employees “similar to the measures that were taken during the coronavirus.” When asked about the guilt of the officials, Mr. Pasler, as reported by Ural56.ru, replied: “Everyone is to blame except the people who suffered. I have no doubt that the criminal cases will be brought to their logical conclusion.”

Polina Yachmennikova, Orsk