Flooding in Primorye: where did the millions allocated for dams go?

IRINA MISHINA

Shots of drowning settlements have been coming from the Primorye. A powerful typhoon flooded almost the entire region. Water cut the exit from almost 40 settlements. Sections of highways and bridges have been destroyed, thousands of residents remain without electricity and communications.

Only the roofs are visible from under the water…

The south of Primorye is cut off from the rest of the world. The track collapsed in at least three places. You can get over the trees that were knocked down by the cyclone. From one locality to another is now only on foot and at the risk of life. In some localities, only the roofs of houses are visible from under the water, people drowned for almost a day.

39 settlements remain cut off. There is also no communication with the regional rehabilitation hospital «Evgenevskaya» — patients and staff were evacuated from there by helicopters. However, everyone hopes that there will be no casualties.

Children are urgently evacuated from kindergartens, people are forced to «move» through the streets on inflatable mattresses or waist-deep in water.

Heavy rains disrupted the work of the local airport, the service and main parking of which literally went under water. Two fire trucks were working at the scene of the emergency, rescuers were pumping out water. Cars drive in the oncoming lane. Many passengers, due to the inability to drive up to the terminals, are forced to walk — huge traffic jams did not budge.

The Governor of Primorsky Krai Oleg Kozhemyako appealed to employers to shorten the working day and let people go home early. People were urged to minimize trips to the street, as there may be open storm drains on flooded roads.

People are hiding from floods in their homes, but in some areas the water reaches almost the level of windows. Gardens and cemeteries were flooded. It is assumed that the discharge of water with closed sandors is to blame for everything — the water should have gone into the sea. The Primvodokanal believes that the elements are to blame, the district administration does not answer the phone. People have repeatedly said that streams flow into the Artemovka River, and here it has also filled up because of the past precipitation.

In addition to food prices, according to the civilian population, the prices of taxi rides have increased significantly. From Zagorodny to Khmelnitsky, the taxi driver demanded a thousand rubles. The head of the Ussuri city district noted that the situation with taxi aggregators is much more difficult to solve, since the companies suffered significant losses after the flood. Taxi companies are flooded, many cars will need expensive repairs. In addition, not everyone will dare to drive on blurred roads, which pose a great danger.

Millions went under the water?

Why did all this become possible? After all, showers occur in Primorye regularly. Primorye was flooded again, despite the fact that a few years ago the state allocated a serious amount of money to create flood protection measures. After that, local residents were not drowned during heavy rainfall. We can say that after these infusions, this has never happened, and here it is again.

In the Partizansky Urban District, for example, dams were created, riverbeds were deepened, gutters were dug, city drains were cleaned and updated. Some dams withstood the attack of the water flow, but the Ussuri dam floated, having previously accumulated so much water that it turned into a big flood. In general, the Ussuri dam has held the defense for only a few years, and why it has weakened so much, it is necessary to ask local authorities who like to master the money allocated for the restoration of washed-away roads, but mostly master them in their favor. Say, another typhoon will write everything off.

So this time, considerable funds will be allocated from the federal budget.

«340 million from the federal budget is the first step towards restoring kindergartens and roads. I am sure that our joint work with you will allow the Primorsky Territory to receive additional funds, restore the affected facilities and, most importantly, provide people with the required payments. To do this, from today we have significantly increased the number of commissions in order to determine the damage next week,» the head of Primorye stressed.

The main thing is that this money reaches the victims, and does not settle in the pockets of officials. Also today it became known that the destroyed houses in Primorye will not be subject to restoration — they say, there is no point. Of course, it is much more profitable for a construction complex to develop billions on new buildings.