four months after the destruction of the Kakhovka dam, residents of Kherson “do not want to say goodbye to their homes” destroyed by floods

“Come in, come in”Olexandre, 75, tells us, then we enter, into what was still four months ago, a beautiful little house, made of brick and thatch. “That was the hallwayshows us the old Ukrainian, there the kitchen and there the living room. The water rose to halfway up the roof.” On June 6, the destruction of the Kakhovka dam, located in an area controlled by the Russians, caused an ecological and humanitarian disaster with dozens of deaths in the flood that followed, pollution of the water of the Dnieper River and numerous destruction.

>> BEFORE/AFTER. War in Ukraine: discover the scale of the destruction of the Kakhovka dam and its consequences

In certain cities, the stigma is still significant, such as in Kherson, where entire neighborhoods are still not habitable. The water has long receded, but residents still cannot return to their homes. “I had a beautiful garden with roses, tulips, daffodils, gladioli. I had everything, says Olexandre. In the morning in the courtyard, I sat in an armchair with a cup of tea, the dog next to me. What more can you ask for when you’re an old man…”

Houses that have become uninhabitable

At Olexandre’s, the water destroyed almost everything. The foundations are unstable, the framework has partly collapsed, everything is moldy inside. The ax has fallen. Olexandre’s house must be razed and the land can no longer be built on. This was decided by the town hall, which promised financial aid to enable the victims to buy new land to rebuild.

“But the authorities considered that Kherson was a town near the front and therefore that they had to wait. But wait what? I rent an apartment and overnight the owners can ask me to vacate it…”

Olexander, 75 years old

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Half of Olexandre’s small pension goes into the rent of this apartment. “But I need to eat. My dog ​​does too”, deplores Olexandre. So despite the ban on rebuilding Olexandre comes “here every day” : “I have a small outbuilding in my backyard and I try to make at least one room out of it to spend the winter.”

Olexandre’s neighbor, Mykhaylo, 74, does the same. With his wife, they tinker, in the hope of being able to live in their family home again. “I would prefer to keep my house if there was only the possibility of rebuilding itexplains Mykhaylo. In my heart, I don’t want to say goodbye to this house.” In Kherson, following the flood four months ago, 650 houses were declared uninhabitable by the authorities.