Russia puts flooded town of Hola Prystan under quarantine, preventing evacuations

Russian forces announced a quarantine in the town of Hola Prystan in the Kherson Oblast, which suffers unprecedented flooding Russia blew up the Kakhovka dam up the Dnipro River, the local media reported on June 11.

Currently, the water level in the Russian-occupied town is falling, but still reaches up to 2 meters in some areas, according to the head of the city’s Military Administration Svitlana Linnyk.

“The city is blocked. The Russians closed all entrances and exits,” said Linnyk.

As a result, volunteers are not able to transfer humanitarian aid to local residents.

“I don’t yet know whether the delivery of drinking water and food will be organized,” she added.

In addition, some local residents died as a result of the flood, but relatives can’t bury them.

"Families cannot bury these people in the cemetery, even though it is located in a non-flooded part of the city. The occupiers do not allow people there,” said Linnyk.

The day after the Kakhovka dam was blown up on June 6, Hola Prystan with  around 6,000 people was 85% flooded by noon.

Kherson Oblast Governor Oleksandr Prokudin reported that as of June 11, 112 people, including 54 women and 7 children, were evacuated from the Russian-occupied left bank of the Oblast.

As of evening, the average water level in the flooded region is  3,93 meters, but the figure decreases. According to Prokudin, at the moment, 46 settlements remain flooded, of which 32 are on the right bank and 14 are on the left bank.