Broken piers and apartments without heating: Crimea is recovering from a terrible storm
Damage to the infrastructure of Crimea from the “Tsar Storm”, which swept over the peninsula on November 26, exceeded 1,3 billion rubles.
This data is provided by the operational headquarters for combating the consequences of the disaster. However, the amount is still preliminary - the survey of the coastal infrastructure began only today.
In addition, a storm warning continues to be in force in Crimea, and although the hurricane wind has reduced the speed to 20-25 m/s, repair crews cannot restore damaged power line wires in such conditions.
The head of Crimea, Sergei Aksenov, said that a state of emergency due to the consequences of the hurricane was introduced in 5 more municipalities of Crimea. A special regime is in effect in the territories of Yalta, Alushta, Simferopol, Dzhankoy, Evpatoria, Saki, Sovetsky, Krasnogvardeysky, Krasnoperekopsky, Saki, Simferopol, Belogorsky, Nizhnegorsky, Dzhankoy and Black Sea regions.
In addition, the “Threat of Emergency” regime was introduced in Sudak, Pervomaisky and Bakhchisarai regions.
More than 43 thousand people remain without power supply. The page of the head of Crimea on VKontakte is flooded with messages from residents who have been without electricity for four days, and, as a result, water and heating. The temperature in the houses was equal to the temperature outside +10+12 C°.
What irritates people most is the attitude of local authorities and energy workers - no one can clearly explain what work is being carried out and where, and when to wait for connection. The 175 Krymenergo brigades involved are clearly not enough. The reports include the supply of water to 116 settlements that are without power and the pumping stations are not working, but according to reviews on social networks, residents either do not know about this, or no one has ever seen the water trucks.
“Repair work is underway, but I have instructed to find additional forces as soon as possible and to involve all contractors and municipal organizations.
The current situation shows in practice how the interaction between authorities, services and residents in municipalities is structured. The effectiveness of municipal authorities’ response to emergencies will certainly be analyzed. Where areas of responsibility are assigned in advance to responsible administration officials, problems do not arise. Once again I urge those in charge to strengthen their efforts as much as possible. Particular attention goes to pensioners, children, and the disabled,” emphasized the head of Crimea Sergei Aksyonov.
All Crimean roads that were flooded during the storm are open for travel. In the village of Morskoye near Sudak, where the sea destroyed the foundation of the road, traffic flows along one surviving lane. A major renovation is planned.
This morning, intercity trolleybuses were launched along routes on the sections Simferopol - Alushta - Yalta - the contact network was cut off by strong winds on November 26, and passengers stuck on the Angarsk Pass were hitchhiked.
The most problematic situation is in Yevpatoria, where about 100 houses are flooded. To drain the water, utilities must dig trenches, and only then can they begin pumping it out of residential buildings.
“Within approximately two days, the main issues related to flooding and restoration of power supply should be eliminated. A large number of houses are located in lowlands, like in a trough, and they were flooded by the surge wave. If the wind force on the shore was 40 m/s, then at sea it reached 70 m/s. This is a pretty serious hurricane. Today we also received a storm warning, but the wind force will be 20-25 m/s,” said Crimean Emergency Situations Minister Sergei Sadakliev.
As soon as the water leaves residential buildings, municipal commissions will come to the site to register and calculate the damage. In Yalta, the condition of bank protection structures, which include artificial embankments, is being examined. The groins and berms built in the 70-80s of the last century have already served their operational life twice, and seven-meter waves simply broke the concrete foundations.
“The area of work is large - in total, from Foros to Gurzuf there are more than a hundred such engineering structures (embankments/piers). We are recording the destruction, determining the damage in order to prepare appropriate applications to the federal center,” said the head of the Yalta administration, Yanina Pavlenko.
English version :: Read in English: Broken piers and unheated apartments: Crimea recovers from a terrible storm