Nikolaev flooded, there is no water in Krivoy Rog: in the south of Ukraine they started talking about panic

The destruction of the Kakhovskaya hydroelectric power station led to a catastrophe not only for the Russian territories of the Kherson region, but also for the entire south of Ukraine. The emerging threat of dehydration of Krivoy Rog, the water intake zone of which was located just in the Kakhovka reservoir, provoked panic among the local population. People are desperately trying to build up reserves for future use. To solve the problem, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine even allocated 1.5 billion hryvnias, which should be used to build two main water pipelines in Krivoy Rog, Nikopol and Marganets, but all this is in the future. The MK correspondent learned about what is happening in the south of Ukraine now.

On the eve of the Internet, footage circulated in which residents of Dnepropetrovsk stand in line at supermarkets with carts loaded to the top with bottles of drinking water. The impending shortage of drinking water, as well as the price of it, which is growing at a tremendous speed, makes it urgent to buy bottles. In Krivoy Rog, the cost of a five-liter bottle of water, which is now worth its weight in gold, has reached the space price of 239 hryvnias (530 rubles), but it is not easy to find it either, because the store shelves are simply empty. They sold out everything that was, even the signs “No more than a bottle in one hand” did not help. At the same time, residents of Kryvyi Rih are outraged that the average price of a similar 5-liter bottle of water in Kyiv stores is no higher than 56 hryvnias (124 rubles). The city authorities have not been able to correct the situation so far and are limited to sending SMS messages to their phones.

“The State Emergency Service sends us notifications that there will be no water until June 12!!

As far as I understand, this concerns only Krivoy Rog and neighboring cities so far. We don’t have water anywhere. It is impossible to buy for any money. People are in a panic, children are crying,” says a local resident.

You will not envy Krivoy Rog. The fact is that the city is fed from the Southern Reservoir, and it, in turn, from the Kakhovka, in which the water level fell about four meters below the water intake.

Now the city administration is puzzled: the local reservoir will not be able to provide the city with water for a long time, even if consumption is very economical. The maximum for how much water is enough is one and a half months. Panic broke out in the city as a result of what was happening.

“Kryvyi Rih residents, stop panicking. I wrote – there will be water. Water intake has doubled over the past 5 hours – everyone is taking baths and other containers. The automatics of the pumps cannot stand it, they are constantly knocked out. Therefore, some of the pumps do not work,” he tries unsuccessfully reassure people governor Alexander Vilkul.

As a result, the city has seriously limited the water supply for residents, and these measures are obviously not short-term. Industrial enterprises have also suffered, many of which are forced to stop working, at least temporarily. “They have partially suspended their work due to the water situation, they have not stopped, but the situation is very tense, and they have reduced the water intake. Now they are working in water austerity, but they are working,” said the head of the Krivoy Rog Regional Military Administration Yevgeny Sitnichenko.

But the Ukrainian city of Nikolaev, on the contrary, was in the flood zone. “A noticeable rise in water on the beaches of Namyva, the Ship District, the Solyanye microdistrict, in the yacht club, in separate sections of Bolshaya Korenikha, Shirokaya Balka,” the local administration reported about the problem. The streets in the suburbs are ankle-deep with water, the level of which has risen by 77 centimeters, and the water keeps coming and coming. In some places, the house is already flooded to the ceiling. “A lot of water has reached us,” one of the local residents shared, “it filled everything near Nikolaev, and the level went up. Those who have boats are lucky.”

“Water, probably, will again have to be bought in stores,” Inna, a resident of Nikolaev, complains to MK. – And so it was clear that everything would come to this. But we have always had a big problem with drinking water, which was brought by water carriers, so people have been stocking up for future use and will continue to stock up. Everyone is used to this, but the threat of a flood is already scary.”

Now the municipal and emergency services of Nikolaev are working in an enhanced mode, waiting for the situation to worsen and a new rise in water. Two large solar power plants in the Nikolaev region were flooded, about 20 thousand inhabitants were left without electricity, large-scale power outages are underway. All available special equipment has been launched into the battle with what the Ukrainian authorities themselves have done. Doctors in hospitals also sound the alarm: due to water pollution, medical workers expect cholera and other epidemics, which can now easily “mow down” already suffered Nikolaev residents. The ecological catastrophe is recognized even by the local governor Kim, who complains that sea water will mix with river water. In turn, from Nikolaev to the Black Sea, water washes away broken mines, animal corpses and fresh human burials, biological waste from crematoria, which are especially active against the backdrop of the Ukrainian counteroffensive. One thing is clear – the full consequences of the destruction of the dam will be assessed and realized very soon.