Water drained from territory of Kakhovka: Russian official
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The Khakhovka dam area is drained of water and officials are ready to reconstruct the city and partial destruction of the Kakhovka hydroelectric power plant.
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Water flows over the collapsed Kakhovka Dam in Nova Kakhovka, Wednesday, June 7, 2023. (AP)
The water has almost entirely drained from the Kakhovka dam region, which was flooded following the partial destruction of the Kakhovka hydroelectric power plant, according to Vladimir Leontiev, the district manager for Nova Kakhovka.
"The entire city has been freed from water. We have begun pumping out water that is still in the basements. Energy supply has been launched," Leontiev told Russian media.
Even after normal life activity in the area was resumed within a week, according to Leontiev, the area would still need a lot of work to be restored because it had sustained "enormous damage."
Later that day, acting Kherson governor Vladimir Saldo reported that 77 residents of the region's flooded areas had been admitted to hospitals.
He claimed that 323 children were among the 7,000 evacuated from the city, and that around 1,500 of the evacuees are currently staying in temporary housing facilities.
Although the Kakhovka dam wasn't totally destroyed, its crumbling caused an uncontrollable water outflow to towns downstream. Moscow and Kiev have blamed each other for the dam's destruction, and authorities evacuated the populace in some of the affected areas.
The Kherson Region, which became a part of Russia through a referendum in September 2022, contains the city of Nova Kakhovka, which is located 5 kilometers from the sixth and final stage of the cascade of Dnepr hydroelectric power plants.
Read next: ZNPP under no threat after Kakhovka dam disaster: Ukraine Ambassador
Earlier last week, the Kakhovka dam in southern Ukraine was blown on June 6, unleashing a flood of water across the war zone.
Reports warned against 'critical water levels' that could threaten 80 settlements, TASS reported, citing emergency services. The news outlet revealed that the damage to the dam was expected to trigger problems with water supplies to Crimea, citing the Moscow-installed mayor of Nova Kakhovka.
Circulating videos on social media showed a series of intense explosions around the Kakhovka dam, and other videos showed water surging through the remains of the dam with bystanders expressing their shock.
The dam, 30 meters (yards) tall and 3.2 km (2 miles) long, was built in 1956 on the Dnipro River as part of the Kakhovka hydroelectric power plant. It holds an 18 km3 reservoir which also supplies water to the Crimean peninsula and to the Zaporozhye nuclear plant.
"The Kakhovka (dam) was blown up by the Russian occupying forces," the South command of Ukraine's Armed Forces said on Tuesday on its Facebook page, adding, "The scale of the destruction, the speed and volumes of water, and the likely areas of inundation are being clarified."
Russian news agencies said the dam, controlled by Russian forces, had been destroyed in shelling and a Russian President Vladimir Putin called it a barbaric act by Ukraine.
Read next: US satellite detects heat traces secs prior Kakhovka dam collapse: NYT
