What threatens water sabotage at the DneproGES: the largest dam failures

In the palette of current disturbing news from the military special operation zone, there are reports of a possible large-scale provocation by Ukrainian nationalists, the main role in which will be played by deliberate damage to one of the dams of the Dnieper cascade of hydroelectric power stations. The calculation is understandable: to arrange a disastrous flood ourselves and blame Russia for this. But what could be the consequences of such an artificial cataclysm? A clue can be found by looking at similar catastrophes that have happened in the past.

Of course, the first thing that would be right to recall in this case is the situation of 81 years ago, connected precisely with the destruction of one of the hydraulic structures that are now under the hypothetical attack of the Kyiv “hawks”. At the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, on August 18, 1941, when the Nazi troops were about to capture Zaporozhye, by order personally sanctioned by Stalin, they blew up the dam of the Dnieper hydroelectric power station.

About 20 tons of explosives planted by our sappers in the body of the dam, having worked, then destroyed over 100 meters of the concrete wall that supported the huge reservoir. Powerful streams poured through the gap, forming at first a high wave capable of crushing everything in its path.

These facts are not in doubt. But the further course of events in different sources is described very differently.

Some researchers report huge destruction and numerous victims of such an artificial tsunami. Downstream of the Dnieper, several coastal villages were destroyed along with the inhabitants who were there, who were not warned in advance about the impending blast of the dam. In addition, the stream literally “sucked” into its water funnel many units of the two Soviet armies that were crossing the Dnieper at that time to take up defense on its left bank. Allegedly, losses due to the attack of the water element reached tens of thousands of Red Army soldiers and commanders. The advancing troops of the Wehrmacht also got it, which seemed to be missing due to such a sudden flood of several thousand soldiers.

But in other descriptions and testimonies, the picture of what happened looks much less apocalyptic. These authors argue that the flood caused by the explosion of the Dneproges dam practically did not collect any crop of victims among people, and the height of the resulting wave was by no means prohibitive, and this water shaft, spreading over the floodplain, quickly lost all its original formidable strength. From the man-made flood, mainly livestock died, which they did not have time to take away from the coastal areas. The Nazis did not suffer at all, since their units were located on the high right bank. As for the losses in the armies crossing the river downstream, these crossings were more than 100 kilometers away from the Dnieper Hydroelectric Power Station and could not be seriously affected by such a “volley” discharge of water through the destroyed dam. And the large loss of personnel, the culprit of which was supposedly an artificial tsunami, was in fact the result of heavy defensive battles and successful attacks by German troops and aircraft on our retreating regiments and divisions.

Now let’s turn to the events confirmed much more thoroughly. Here are just a few examples of man-made disasters associated with the destruction of artificial structures on rivers.

On March 12, 1928, one of the largest engineering disasters in US history occurred. Three minutes before midnight, the St. Francis Dam, which was built to create a reservoir that provided water to the city of Los Angeles, collapsed (as it was later found out due to accumulated damage). Thousands of tons of water broke free and rushed down the canyon, forming a wave about 30 meters high. This water fist easily destroyed a power plant located 25 kilometers away. And the total length of the flood zone was over 80 kilometers. More than 600 people died because of the flood.

On December 2, 1959, the city of Frejus on the French Cote d’Azur almost completely went under water. The flood caused damage to the dam blocking the Reyran River about 7 kilometers north of Fréjus. According to official figures, 423 people became victims of the disaster. As it turned out during the investigation of the emergency, there were several reasons for the collapse of the concrete structures of this hydraulic structure. Firstly, during the construction of the dam, the contractor saved on materials, and the workers laid low-quality concrete in her body. Secondly, the construction was “shattered” by explosions, with the help of which the route of the future highway was laid not far from this place. Well, the “trigger” was prolonged rains, too actively filling the reservoir, which is locked by a dam.

Another “dam” disaster occurred 4 years later in northern Italy. Here, the water shaft collapsed on the villages that are located along the Piave River and its tributary Vaionta below the hydroelectric dam, built in 1961 next to the Monte Tok mountain. The culprits of the cataclysm and this time were heavy rains. However, their impact turned out to be more “exclusive” in this case. The downpour washed away the rocks, and part of the mountainside suddenly collapsed down – right into the reservoir behind the dam. From such a blow of a huge stone mass, a tall wave rose. She swept over the dam, destroying its upper edge to a height of about a meter. But even this was enough for the consequences of the natural and technical accident to be very serious. The flood destroyed five villages in the river valley. The number of victims among their inhabitants, according to various sources, ranged from 2,000 to 2,500 people. More than 300 families died completely.

June 14, 1993 was a “black day” for residents of the Ural city of Serov and several surrounding villages. At the Kiselevskoye reservoir located in these places, a dam broke through, and the waters of the Kakva River flooded about 70 square kilometers of its floodplain downstream. Almost 7,000 people were recognized as affected by the flood, of which 15 were killed and 8 were missing. A sudden flood destroyed and severely damaged 1250 houses, 6 bridges, washed out about half a kilometer of the embankment of the railway passing along the river.

In the winter of 2005, heavy rains hit the southwest of Pakistan. On the night of February 11, due to a significant rise in water in the Shadi River, a hydroelectric dam broke, located near the city of Pasni in the province of Balochistan. Water flooded several villages, where dozens of buildings were destroyed and damaged. As a result of the disaster, more than 50 people died and another 500 were missing.

In the same country, five years later, another, larger-scale flood disaster occurred. On August 5, 2010, there was an accident at the dam, which blocked the Indus River. As a result of the dam break, more than 2 million hectares of territory were flooded. The water destroyed nearly 900,000 homes and outbuildings and claimed the lives of more than 1,700 Pakistanis.

The sad primacy in the section devoted to these catastrophes belongs to the Chinese. On August 8, 1975, in the province of Henan, the Bancao Dam on the Zhuhe River collapsed, unable to withstand the flood caused by Typhoon Nina. The number of victims was very high. In the immediate aftermath of the flood, caused by an accident at a hydraulic structure, about 26,000 people died, according to official figures. However, as a result of the emergency, serious problems arose in the vast surrounding areas with the supply of drinking water, with the removal of sewage masses. As a result, epidemics developed, which, according to researchers, claimed the lives of another 150 or even 200 thousand people.