Water level drops in flooded streets of Novaya Kakhovka. At least seven people missing

Russia-appointed “authorities” of the city of Nova Kakhovka, Kherson region, report that the water level in the previously flooded streets of the city has begun to drop. Residents of the city have confirmed the information.

Furthermore, according to Ukrainian authorities of the region, there have been no incidents over the night, the intensity of flooding is decreasing, however water will continue arriving.

“We forecast that the water level will rise by around a metre in the next 20 hours. Tonight the Bilozerska commune got flooded a bit, although yesterday the water had not yet reached it. As of this morning, 1,852 houses are flooded on the right bank [of the Dnipro River]. Everyone is hard at work to help people. In the night, we got asked for help by 13 people, five among them from the left bank. As of 6 AM, 1,457 people have been evacuated,” the head of Kherson region military administration Oleksandr Prokudin says.

Russia-appointed “Mayor” of Nova Kakhovka Vladimir Leontyev reports that at least seven residents of the area have gone missing after the dam break. According to him, the villages of Korsunka, Dnipryany, Krynky, and Kozachi Laheri have gone underwater. Over 900 locals have been evacuated from Nova Kakhovka. According to the “mayor”, the water level has dropped by 35 cm. 

Residents of the Zabaryne village told media outlet ASTRA that the “situation has gotten worse”: “We’re sitting on the roof. We’re not being evacuated. The Russian government fled, leaving us to our own devices. There’s no power, the signal is gone. <…> There are no volunteers in Zabaryne unlike in [the towns of] Oleshky and Hola Prystan. We don’t know what to do.”

By the evening of 6 June, as Secretary-General of the United Nations António Guterres reported, at least 16,000 people had lost their homes because of the dam destruction. Over 80 villages and towns are in the flooding area, around 40,000 people need to be evacuated. Most of these people are on the territory occupied by Russia. Around 300 animals died in the Nova Kakhovka zoo because of the flooding.

Russia-appointed “authorities” claim that they are helping “everyone who requires help”. However, as Mediazona points out, volunteers say that the Emergency Ministry cannot keep up, so people remain in attics and on roofs while saving themselves from the water. 

In the morning of 6 June, the Kakhovka HPP dam, located in the Kherson region, was blown up. The Ukrainian military claimed it was done by Russian troops. Russia responded accusing Ukraine of the act. People are being evacuated. The reliability of the Zaporizhzhia NPP is at risk. The destruction of the dam could lead to water shortages in Crimea.

OSINT-specialists speculate that the dam could have broken because of the damages suffered in the past weeks and not because of an explosion.