ROSTOV-ON-DON. June 14 (Interfax) - The damage from the flood resulting from the destruction of the Kakhovka Hydropower Plant in the Kherson region is currently estimated at 40 billion rubles, Andrei Alekseyenko, head of the regional government, said.
"The total damage from the flood for people [and] to housing, infrastructure and public facilities is nearing 40 billion rubles. The scale of the damage is being updated as new territories become free from water. The assessment of the real state of buildings, facilities and equipment in the emergency area continues," he said on his Telegram channel on Wednesday.
The government commission on emergency situations has supported the proposal to recognize the flood in the Kherson region a federal-level emergency situation, he said.
"The water is expected to fully recede and the Dnieper to return to its banks by June 20," Alekseyenko said.
Valves and other surface infrastructure elements of the Kakhovka HPP were destroyed in the early hours of June 6, causing an uncontrolled discharge of the Dnieper's water downstream from the Kakhovka reservoir in the Kherson and Zaporozhye regions. Water levels rose to 12 meters in riverside communities of the Kherson region.
Seven thousand residents of three city districts - Novaya Kakhovka, Alyoshki and Golaya Pristan - had to be evacuated. According to the most recent information, 17 people died.
The Kakhovka HPP, in operation since the 1950s, regulates the Dnieper's water flow for the purpose of power generation, irrigation and water supply to arid regions of southern Ukraine, as well as navigation between Kherson and Zaporozhye. It is where the North Crimean Canal, which provides the peninsula with water from the Dnieper, begins. The plant has not generated electricity since mid-2022 because of attacks.