Ukraine: Dam collapse death toll rises, with children among 6 dead, 35 missing in floods
- 77 towns and villages flooded in southern regions of Kherson and Mykolaiv, with 35 people missing, including seven children, in Kherson area, said a government minister
- Dead animals and fish, drowned trees and plants, toxins and oil, uprooted landmines, submerged homes, lack of drinking water are among the many problems to be tackled
The destruction of the Nova Kakhovka Dam was a fast-moving and deadly disaster that is swiftly evolving into a long-term environmental catastrophe affecting drinking water, food supplies and ecosystems reaching into the Black Sea.
As the authorities said on Sunday that six people were dead and thirty five people missing in southern Ukraine following the devastating flood, prosecutors called the disaster the “worst environmental catastrophe since Chernobyl”.
Ukrainian Interior Minister Igor Klymenko said 77 towns and villages had been flooded in the southern regions of Kherson and Mykolaiv, with 35 people missing, including seven children, in the Kherson region.
Five people died there and one person was dead in the region of Mykolaiv, he said. Previously, the authorities had said that five people had died as a result of the flood.
Eight people died on Moscow-controlled territory, Vladimir Saldo, the Russian-installed governor of part of Ukraine’s southern Kherson region, said this week.
Meanwhile, the short-term dangers can be seen from outer space – tens of thousands of parcels of land flooded, and more to come. Experts say the long-term consequences will be generational.
