Thousands Flee Flooded Homes After Ukraine Dam Destroyed

Kherson, Ukraine, June 7 (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 7th Jun, 2023 ) :Thousands were fleeing their homes Wednesday after the destruction of a frontline Russian-held dam flooded dozens of villages and parts of a nearby city in Ukraine, sparking fears of a humanitarian disaster.

Downstream from the breached Kakhovka dam, Ukrainian police and troops in Kherson city were bringing people out from inundated areas in inflatable boats, most clutching only a few documents and pets.

Moscow and Ukraine have traded blame for the dam being ripped open early Tuesday, which unleashed a gush of water on the Dnipro River and forced hasty departures.

One woman, Nataliya Korzh, 68, had swum part of the way to escape from her house. She emerged from a rescue boat barefoot, her legs covered with scratches, her hands trembling from cold.

"All my rooms are underwater. My fridge is floating, the freezer, everything. We're used to shooting, but a natural disaster is a real nightmare. I wasn't expecting that," she told AFP.

She had only managed to bring a few belongings and medicines with her and feared for her two dogs and cat, which she was unable to save.

"To get to the room where the dogs were, I would have had to dive. I don't know what's happened to them." Central streets of Kherson were waist-deep in water and ground-floors of buildings underwater.

A spokesman for Ukraine's emergency services, Oleksandr Khorunzhyi, said on television that "more than 1,450 people have been evacuated" and "currently there is no information about the dead or injured".

Water levels in Kherson have risen by five metres (16 feet), he said.

Amid the rescue operation, frequent shelling could be heard in the city, which was occupied by Russian forces for nine months in 2022.

A policeman, Sergiy, 38, was using a radio to coordinate the rescue boats.

"Today we've already saved 30 people, 10 pets. There was one child. We will work until we've brought out all the people," he told AFP.

Washington warned there would be "likely many deaths" due to the breach of the Kakhovka dam, which is located on the frontline and provides cooling water for Europe's largest nuclear plant.