Devastating dam breach plunges southern Ukraine into ongoing flooding crisis

Residents of southern Ukraine braced for a second day of swelling floodwaters after major dam breach

Residents of southern Ukraine braced for a second day of swelling floodwaters on June 7, 2023, as authorities warned that a Dnieper River dam breach would continue to unleash pent-up waters from a giant reservoir.

Also Read | Ukraine accuses Russia of destroying major dam near Kherson, warns of widespread flooding

Officials said waters were expected to rise further following the dramatic rupture of the Kakhovka dam about 70 km to the east of Kherson, but were slowing.

Ukraine accused Russian forces of blowing up the dam and adjoining hydroelectric power station, which sits in an area Moscow has controlled for more than a year. Russian officials blamed Ukrainian bombardment in the contested area, where the river separates the two sides.

The Reuters agency has posted a video on twitter.

Residents sloshed through knee-deep waters in their inundated homes as videos posted on social media showed rescue workers carrying people to safety and an aerial video of waters filling the streets of Russian-controlled Nova Kakhovska on the eastern side of the river.

In Ukrainian-controlled areas on the western side, Oleksandr Prokudin, the head of Kherson Regional Military administration, said in a video that water levels were expected to rise by another meter (about 3 feet) over the next 20 hours.