Amazing before and after photos show floods engulfing entire cities just hours after Ukraine’s dam was destroyed
- Tens of thousands of Ukrainians have been told to evacuate their homes amid ‘catastrophic’ flooding
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Shocking drone footage has revealed the extent of devastating flooding that has ravaged Ukraine’s Kherson region after explosions damaged a major dam and hydroelectric power station early this morning.
A series of photos taken from towns and villages around the city of Kherson saw huge swaths of land completely inundated by the deluge unleashed during the attacks on the Kakhovka dam in southern Ukraine.
In some cases, homes were completely washed away, with a video circulating on social media showing a building floating on the Dnieper River as stunned bystanders watched.
Other smaller buildings were completely submerged, with one image showing how a local football and athletics stadium was completely submerged.
Ukrainian warned that a complete failure of the dam could release 18 million cubic meters (4.8 billion gallons) of water and flood Kherson and dozens of other cities and settlements, home to hundreds of thousands of people.
The cause of the blasts is not yet clear, although Ukraine warned late last year that Russian troops had mined the dam as they pulled out of Kherson and Ukraine’s state-owned hydropower company said the Kakhovka power station had been destroyed by an engine room explosion. attacked from within rather than by attacks from without.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said the destruction of the Kakhovka dam would have “serious consequences” for people and nature, while local residents warned that “everything will die here” and said “people will suffer.”
This image shows the main square outside Nova Kakhovka’s administrative building – the main urban center closest to the dam – before and after the horrendous floods. Russian-installed officials said water levels are expected to rise for up to 72 hours after this morning’s incident
A view of the Kosheva River near Kherson shows the extent of the flash flooding after the dam was damaged this morning
Several riverside huts and small corrugated iron buildings were almost completely submerged when the river overflowed its banks
The Enerhiya Athletics Stadium in Nova Kakhovka was completely inundated by floodwaters that flooded the track and parts of the stands
A simulation shows the potential devastation a total collapse of the Kakhovka dam could bring to the region
This screenshot from a video posted today to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s Twitter account shows an aerial view of the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Station’s dam after it was partially destroyed
A drone camera captured the extent of the flood. Water flows over the top of the damaged dam
An explosion can be seen today at the destroyed factory in Kakhovka in Ukraine’s occupied Kherson region. The explosions sent water 40 feet into the air
Kherson is flooded after the Kakhovka dam was damaged by a series of explosions
Floods have already inundated the countryside and several villages near Kherson
The Kakhovka hydroelectric power station was completely destroyed by the explosions
The remains of the Kakhovka hydroelectric power station can be seen in this footage after several explosions
A drone camera showed the extent of the flood – water pouring over the top of the damaged dam
A satellite image shows the Nova Kakhovka dam in Kherson region, Ukraine on June 5, 2023, before the attack
The dam has reportedly been blown up by Russian troops, threatening at least ten nearby villages
This general image shows a partially flooded area of Kherson on June 6, 2023, after damage sustained at the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Station
Flooding begins in the occupied Kherson and Kherson region after the destruction of the Kakhovka hydroelectric power station