The expert appreciated the version about rodents that ruined the dam in Orsk

Expert Bolgov: the probable cause of the dam break in Orsk was marriage, not rodents

In the event of a dam destruction, experts sometimes consider the version of rodents, but the chief researcher at the Institute of Water Problems of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Doctor of Technical Sciences Mikhail Bolgov, called this an “exotic hypothesis.” In his opinion, the cause of the dam failure in Orsk was most likely a construction defect.

Previously, the general contractor of the Spetsstroy company, which built the dam in Orsk in 2010, Sergei Komarov, claimed that the breakthrough was caused by rodents. However, Bolgov emphasized that there was no such evidence, and suggested that the reason could be insufficient preparation for construction, possibly related to incorrect processing of the forest.

The expert noted that although sometimes the version of rodents is taken into account by experts as a potential source of damage to the dam in small areas, in this case this most likely was not the case. He pointed to a combination of high water levels in the Ural River and possible construction defects as the main factors that led to the dam failure in Orsk.