“Delo-pipe”: St. Petersburg residents are again suffering due to breakdowns in heating networks
The harsh winter showed the “true face” of housing and communal services in St. Petersburg. Dilapidated heating networks could not withstand the pressure, and several pipelines burst in several parts of the city at once. Interestingly, similar cases were recorded back in September - at the very beginning of the heating season.
Harsh December brought several similar accidents at once, accompanied by pillars of boiling water and clouds of steam.
For example, on the first day of winter in the Nevsky district of the city, at the intersection of Oktyabrskaya Embankment and Rusanovskaya Street, a central heating pipe burst. The incident was reported by an eyewitness, one of the members of the “Road accidents and emergencies of St. Petersburg” community on the VKontakte social network.
“Be careful: there is a big puddle on Rusanovskaya. It will freeze in the evening, there will be a skating rink,” a responsible citizen signed the publication.
The State Unitary Enterprise "TEK SPb" found out that a boiling water leak occurred on a section of the pipeline near house No. 118/1 on Oktyabrskaya Embankment. Clouds of steam escaping from a pipe with a diameter of 300 mm complicated the movement of vehicles.
The very next day, December 2, exactly the same incident occurred in the Kalininsky district. On Commissar Smirnov Street, near house number three, a pipe burst. Here it was decided to completely block public transport.
The defect was eliminated by JSC Heating Network of St. Petersburg.
“The road is blocked. It will be impossible to get past Academician Lebedev. From Smirnov you can turn to Bobruiskaya,” wrote subscribers to the public page “Road Accidents and Emergency St. Petersburg.”
The press service of Heating Systems reported that repair work will continue until December 3.
“In the work area, heating and hot water supply are carried out as usual,” explained the company’s employees.
On the night of December 3, a heating main broke in another district of the city - Krasnoselsky. The emergency occurred at the intersection of Veteranov Avenue and Marshal Zhukov. A leak in the area of house No. 109/4 led to the formation of a column of steam, completely blocking the visibility of cars and buses passing in this area. The accident was eliminated by Teploset specialists for almost a day.
“Every year I vomit. The locals are used to it,” a subscriber to the “Road Accidents and Emergency St. Petersburg” community commented on the publication about the incident.
That same night, exactly the same accident occurred on Vasilyevsky Island. Residents of house number 46 on Korablestroiteley Street were left without heating. On this eventful night, a pipe also burst on the embankment of the Fontanka River near house 93. Due to the emergency, traffic on the Gorstkin Bridge was blocked, and as many as 14 houses were in the repair work area.
On December 4, a breakthrough occurred again in the Krasnoselsky district, on Marshal Zhukov Street, due to which the passage of vehicles towards the Juno market was blocked. The routes of buses No. 83, No. 87, No. 1 1, No. 42 and No. 160 were urgently changed. During the period of repair work, the heating was turned off for many residents of nearby houses. Surprisingly, very close by at the intersection with Kuznetsov Avenue, a similar accident was discovered, almost in two places at once.
On December 5, the owners of cars parked in the spill area moved them away so that the frost would not chain them tightly to the snow-covered road.
“A breakthrough again. We can’t wait for warmth and hot water,” one of the members of the “Road Accidents and Emergency St. Petersburg” community commented on the post.
As in the cases described above, because of this emergency, hundreds of residents of apartment buildings were left without heat supply.
On December 6, in the Nevsky district, the heating network broke in the basement of house number 131 on Babushkina Street. The column of steam rose to the fifth floor of the house. Local residents complained of an unpleasant smell.
On the same day, a pipeline break also occurred on Detskaya Street in the Vasileostrovsky district. He provided heat to the art lyceum named after B.V. Ioganson and kindergarten No. 12. The children were urgently transferred to other preschool institutions.
The next day, December 7, the systemic leakage of hot water continued. A large spill of boiling water was recorded in the courtyard of house number 43 on Veteranov Avenue in the Kirovsky district. A local resident wrote in a comment on VKontakte that when the temperature is -18, a car caught in the spill area runs the risk of being scrapped.
JSC Heating Network of St. Petersburg explained that the incidents were related to the increased load on the networks due to frost. It is obvious that their operational life is coming to an end. According to representatives of the company, the insurance company will handle damages for damaged vehicles.
There were also cases of stoppages of rail transport. So, on Obukhovskaya Oborony Avenue on December 7, after the accident, the trams completely stopped.
On December 8, in the Krasnoselsky district of St. Petersburg, clouds of steam were seen on Leninsky Prospekt in the area from the Fiolent shopping center to the Maxidom store.
“Hovering on the corner of Marshal Zhukov and Leninsky. And it’s been a long time since exactly 6.30,” a responsible citizen wrote in the public page “Road Accidents and Emergency St. Petersburg.”
In the Admiralteysky district in Podezdny Lane, 14 residential buildings were left without heating for a day. The breakthrough, as Teploset employees reported, occurred right on the roadway. Repair work has also seriously hampered the movement of vehicles.
In the evening of the same day, a pipeline burst in the Vyborg district of St. Petersburg on Lunacharsky Avenue. Here a person was completely injured. The man with burns was taken to the hospital.
“Repair work will be carried out without shutting down the buildings - housing services are recommended to put the buildings on the flow. It will take 20 hours to eliminate a technological violation on a pipeline of this diameter; if possible, the repair will be completed earlier,” representatives of the heat and power enterprise later reported.
According to one local resident, people could not leave the entrance for several hours. They were disturbed by the boiling water that flooded the entrance. This communal collapse was noted on social networks.
“It’s immediately obvious that we are ready for winter! Well done at Smolny!” wrote residents of the area.
In total, since the beginning of the heating season, more than 50 heating network breakthroughs have been recorded in St. Petersburg. According to Yandex services, in the first five days of December alone, about three dozen accidents occurred on heating mains.
Residents of the Northern capital are confident that responsibility for the failure to prepare the city for winter lies entirely with Governor Alexander Beglov and the heads of the relevant committees of Smolny.
At the same time, back in September, at one of the city government meetings, the mayor announced that the heat supply systems were XNUMX% ready for the winter period, but the December frosts showed how things really are.
It is worth noting that law enforcement agencies have already taken up the issue. They believe that officials are most likely using the old scheme of replacing new pipes with old ones during reconstruction; it is known from the scandalous “pipe case.”
English version :: Read in English "The Pipeline Case": St. Petersburg Residents Again Suffer Due to Heating Main Breaks