Introduction
The main news of this weekend is the tragedy in Krasnodar region.
In the middle of the night (July 7) the small town of Krymsk was struck by a huge wave of water descending from the surrounding mountains. At this moment the reported toll of deaths is already above 150.
What was the cause of this disaster? According to the official version the abnormally heavy rains [ru] resulted in the flood. However, many people (including some opposition politicians) link the “tsunami-like” wave described by witnesses with the opening of the sluice gates in the Neberdzhayevskiy mountain reservoir. After initial denial by local authorities [ru], the fact of water release from the reservoir was confirmed by the Investigation Committee [ru], but they do not connect it with the flood [ru].
Story of the witness
Russian netizens, however, prefer the non-official sources of information.
Yulia Andropova – the resident of Krymsk – whose father works in the mountain reservoir described in her VKontakte page what was happening in the town. And though some time later the account of Yulia Andropova was deleted – the story itself was copied and quickly spread across RuNet (Russian internet).
Here is the snapshot of the original page from Google cache and its translation.
Krymsk took all the brunt!
Something unimaginable happened tonight. Krymsk was washed off from the face of earth.
The worst thing is that it happened at night, entire families drowned in their sleep without waking up.
At three in the morning, I went out to the street, there still was no water, but at 3.30 it was already flooded. Who else saw or heard of water rising to the level of the two-storey apartment buildings!!! It was strange to see the first floor apartments (built upon rather high foundation) completely submerged under water. On the wall of the local wine factory the water mark was more than 7 meters!!!
All … all trade centers, market, shopping mall – all are gone. Cars are stuck in the windows of houses, logs stick out of the windows of the 2 floor!!! In the Sovietskaya street the houses are completely washed away as if they have never been there! In Lunacharskaya the houses are ruined, in Novorossiyskaya only roofs were visible and people sit on roofs asking for help, along my street the emergency service motor boat could sail without a problem.
And how many victims, dead bodies on the trucks in a heap, just a heap, with arms and legs sticking out in all directions, are being taken to the morgue, but there is no place in the morgue! Corpses are still floating along the streets …
I don’t believe that Krymsk does not exist any more …
Krymsk took all the brunt from Novorossiysk in order to save it! Now everybody hides it, but my father had just been on a duty that night and said that the commission had gathered urgently and discussed whether to open the floodgates of the Neberdzhayevskiy reservoir or not.
The question was that if it wasn’t opened, it would burst and the water would flood Novorossiysk, and if it was opened – Krymsk would be washed away. And what do you think? Of course, they opened the floodgates! But in the end they drowned Krymsk and still hadn’t saved Novorossiysk! Well done.
At least they could warn people about the water release, but no! Why didn’t they send police to warn us?? Why didn’t switch on the siren to wake people up!?
Currently our shops don’t work, no food, no electricity, Krymsk is cordoned off, though what is Krymsk now – only ruins. A lot of elderly people drowned, my friend’s parents are missing, they weren’t in the house, and in the morgue didn’t find them, means they were dragged away or stayed in the ruins.
It’s scary. I don’t know due to what miracle I survived.
Damn, I still cannot believe that this charming town no longer exists.
The photos were taken next day, the water subsided, but still…
Reactions of Russian netizens
Hundreds of Russian netizens commented on this story. Here are some of these comments – from http://vk.com/wall-33078588_28897
Alexandr Nikolaev: With such disasters we shouln’t be afraid of any American rockets.С такими катастрофами нам никакие американские ракеты не страшны.
***
And in conclusion – another very short blog post from another Krymsk resident.
I wrote a tweet. Didn’t expect such resonance. I wrote the truth. Shortly afterwards – tweet in PM and phone call (and this is when I blew the fuses). The meaning was “Shut up, bitch. Remove the photo and the tweets. If you want to live in peace”.
I called a lawyer and some friends. They say, delete and forget. This is how it works here, in Kuban ..
I felt as if I stepped into shit. Removed. Everything. Yes, I’m afraid.
It’s disgusting to feel like the blind puppy .. as if I lied. But it’s truth!
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I didn’t understand if there was no electricity, no internet and telephone connection how Yulia Andropova could write about all these horrors on the internet? And how could she attach the photos taken from helicopter to her letter so quickly? Is she REALLY the resident of Krymsk???
Very good questions I actually asked them myself :)
The only thing that I know for sure is that there were many photo reports from Krymsk streaming from the witnesses and Krymsk residents.
It’s important to note, though, that the hypothesis of waters from the Neberdzhayevskiy reservoir being the main factor in the flood are NOT supported by most observers.
well there’s a thing called note-book and flash-internet – but it’s not the point. such damage in such short period of time simply couldn’t happen because of rainfall. i’m not adicted to conspiracy stuff, but it’s just bullshit !!
Doesn’t matter if Yulia is real or not. People died! TV tells 150-170 ppl, but the ones who were there say it is already about 2000!!!
Путин В.В. мразь и Ткачев его шавка! Они ночью спящих людей целыми семьями утопили как скот! в Крымске на сегодняшний день только 2500 человек погибших! Тела мертвых детей они складируют в подвалах больниц!!! Прячут, чтобы не злить народ! Путин В.В. – ИРОД и ВЫЕБОК! Без его одобрения людей бы не убили!!! Он поуши в крови, уебок! Геноцид собственного народа устроил, мразь!