“My whole life was in this house. I have nothing left, nothing but wet walls,” laments Tetiana Pivneva. His house in Kherson, southern Ukraine, was flooded following the destruction of the Kakhovka dam.
When the flooding started in early June, Tetiana was in Odessa, 200 kilometers away, with her two children. She came back this week to see her house and still can’t believe it.
“I don’t have the words. I cried for several days,” says the 41-year-old widow.
“Even if I had been there, I could not have done anything. It was impossible to stop the water”, continues this businesswoman, while the Dnieper, whose level has risen by several meters, found nearby.
Today, helped by her friends, Tetiana empties her home by walking through the mud that covers her floor.
“This house represents my whole life”, she laments: “I have two suitcases left with our things in Odessa, two children, a cat and a dog. That’s all I have”.
Inside, a young man, shirtless, unscrews what remains of some furniture.
A woman picks up fallen wallpaper from the ground before throwing it into a growing pile of rubbish in the street.
In the courtyard, rolled mattresses are placed next to a washing machine.
“Furniture, sofas, floors, doors, household appliances, everything is thrown away, nothing is left”, lists Olena Pchetnytchna, a friend who came to help. “We’re just saving the walls so mold doesn’t grow. We want the floors and walls to dry out to preserve at least that,” she says.
– “Roof ripped off” –
Located in the Russian-occupied southern zone, the Kakhovka dam was destroyed in the early hours of June 6 causing floods downstream of the river, which killed dozens and forced thousands of inhabitants to leave their homes. housing in areas controlled by Kiev and those occupied by the Russians.
Ukraine has accused Russia of blowing up the dam to slow down its counteroffensive in the south. And Moscow blamed kyiv.
Despite warnings of danger, Igor and Natalia, a retired couple, returned to their home in Kherson to try “to save what can be saved”. Inside, even the plaster has fallen off the walls and ceiling.
“It was our son and daughter-in-law’s bedroom,” he says, pointing to a devastated room where mud-soaked cupboards litter the floor.
“The roof was torn off by the water which carried it to the front door”, explains the owner.
The couple is in contact with the authorities to register as victims of the flood and receive state aid.
“We don’t have enough strength to build and no money either. What are we going to do? I don’t know,” Natalia despairs.
In front of a residential building in Kherson, residents took out their belongings to dry or throw them away: armchairs, cribs, drawers, vacuum cleaners. Clothes hang on wires hanging from tree branches.
“This is a typical Kherson courtyard,” laments Serguii Sergeyev, a neighborhood resident and spokesman for a local military brigade. “People are cleaning their homes, they are drying the walls, their belongings, 90% of which will be sent to the landfill”, explains the 26-year-old man in camouflage uniform.
If the water level has finally fallen in recent weeks, the Russian bombardments have not weakened since the recapture of the city by the Ukrainian army in November. Thursday, four people were injured in yet another strike.
“It is the Russians and their bombardments that remain the most serious problem for Kherson,” said Sergeyev.
23/06/2023 15:14:22 – Kherson (Ukraine) (AFP) – © 2023 AFP
