Dam accidents: many guilty ones, but no one to answer. Well, what is the demand from rats?

Abstract: The Ministry of Construction of Russia is controlling the restoration of the housing and infrastructure in Orsk, which suffered the most from the spring flood in 2024. Photo reports are regularly published on the Department’s web pages. In total, almost 29.5 thousand residential spaces in apartment and private houses were observed in the Orenburg region. Funds were allocated from the federal budget to repair 60 housing and communal services facilities, 26.5 km of roads, 3 land improvement facilities, and a dam in Orsk. But the floods, which happened during the spring high water in rivers in the Urals and Western Siberia, were not limited to. In the summer, four more disasters occurred one after another within two weeks (in the Chelyabinsk region, Karelia, Buryatia, and Primorye Territory). The scenarios were similar. First, a natural phenomenon (rain or flood) happened, then an accident occurred at a hydraulic structure, then a sharp rise in water occurred, which led to the rapid destruction of residential, civil and industrial facilities. All of that was emotionally enhanced by publications in the media and eyewitness’ accounts on social networks. The final was the search for the guilty ones and work with the dissatisfied population, because compensations did not cover the losses. In this article, we will recall the details of five sensational events of such kind, reflect on their causes and provide some experts’ opinions.

Keywords: hydraulic structure; safety; disaster; accident; flood; emergency; burrowing animals; engineering survey errors; design errors; ownerless structure; cost reduction; facility maintenance; municipal balance; regional budget; federal budget.