Atlantis that has returned from underwater: how Kherson lives after the great flood receded
Valeriy looks into his ruined house
The smell of submerged Atlantis
A day after the Russians blew up the Kakhovka HPP, on June 7, water was still arriving, and whole convoys of cars were on the roads near Kherson. Some, packed with people and hastily collected possessions, tried to leave. Others, crammed with food, inflatable boats, and someone else's undamaged clothes, tried to break through to the water. Rubryka reported on this.
Almost two weeks after the hydroelectric power plant was blown up, the closer you are to the water, the emptier the city looks. Volunteers continue to work here, but the buildings that were homes to thousands of people are empty.
"I built this house with my own hands — worked as a sailor, only to get it destroyed," says Slava, showing us around his house.
In the yard, a man is drying furniture that is still intact, documents, and remnants of a wardrobe. A little further, already on the other side of the gate, an oak table for 12 people, 16 chairs, and other furniture from the now-empty building are piled up. Later, utility workers will come and take it all away. Meanwhile, Slava talks about his flooded basement, where over 20 people hid during brutal shelling.
"Everything inside had to be thrown away. Everything instantly turned into garbage. In one day, everything was lost," he sadly states.
The receding water left behind new reliefs — roads, sidewalks, and numerous yards were buried under a layer of mud. In some places, it has already dried up and resembles a desert; in others, it is impossible to get through without plunging into it.
After the water and the stench, tons of garbage, which used to be someone's life, now lies in useless piles, from which it is difficult to distinguish what kind of objects they were. Somewhere among them are the bodies of animals that could not be saved and numerous products that have been rotting all this time, first in the water and now under the southern sun. Sometimes the buzzing of flies becomes so strong that it seems like a drone is nearby.
"Interesting shots?"
Ruined furniture and other things piled up near the gate signify that the owners are already cleaning. From the first day, when the water began to recede, utility workers drove through the streets and collected such garbage. A large part of life, which many have worked hard for, is in the back of a truck in a matter of minutes and, later — in the garbage.
Here, the job of utility workers is very complicated — in addition to the heavy smell accompanying all these piles of flooded things, they have heavy bulletproof vests on their shoulders. Under the hot Kherson sun, they seem even heavier, but there is no way without them — the sounds of sirens and explosions subside here for a while.
Utility workers here have to work in bulletproof vests and under constant fire
Among those whose belongings will be sent to the landfill is Valeriy. He says he believed until the last that the water would recede quickly, so he did not see the need for evacuation. Now he admits that he was wrong. Valeriy and his neighbor spent about a day on his roof until volunteers came for rescue.
"Come in, look at what Russians have caused; take pictures. Are the shots interesting?" Valeriy says to our reporter.
"Icing on the cake"
"Kherson has already experienced everything possible. All left was for the atomic bomb to be dropped, which would be the icing on the cake. Of course, we hope for the best, but we also hoped for common sense with the HPP," says Nadiya.
A woman sits in a destroyed shop. All around are half-empty counters, a non-working refrigerator, and many other things that could not be saved. Olha is busy nearby — the shop belongs to her sister, but she is in charge for now.
The shop is not working now because the owners are cleaning the store. In general, a lot of goods were spoiled. Cookies, candies, ice cream, and sausages have already been taken away for disposal by the city to be taken to the landfill. "We had five tons of flour and groats in warehouses, and when everything flooded…" Olha cuts herself off in mid-sentence.
When everything was flooded, the damage caused by the Russians to this store reached about $27 thousand. This is only an approximate calculation. Now the store is closed. The owners are trying to clean up the flooded warehouses — everything is washed and disinfected. No one knows when it will be possible to resume work.
Olha shows the flooded warehouse
Olha says she and her sister did not expect the water to reach so far. Evacuating goods did not occur to them — as soon as they realized the scale of the future flooding, people began to be evacuated.
Olha shares that her sister is very sick now because of her nerves. They just drowned their car when taking people out. Sisters were trying to evacuate an older man, but there was a lot of water behind the houses, and the car fell into a hole.
"There was shelling when this grandpa was being carried out… I don't even want to mention it anymore," Olha told Rubryka with tears in her eyes.
For some time, we still walk around the city together with Olha. She shows the places where shells hit the ground and tells about the flooding. Later, without her, we end up in another family's house. The owners have already removed the furniture and other things but left an eloquent inscription on the wall, which makes everyone who comes here smile at least a little.
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