11 January 2024 , 16:28
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Residents in a Siberian city have seen their homes hit by floods after a pipe built by the Soviets ruptured amidst -15C temperatures - which caused gallons of water to refreeze on the ground.
Locals in the Russian city of Novosibirsk have been hit by the floods after the pipe burst earlier this week, sending a torrent of water gushing out across roads. More than 100 homes and buildings have been left without heating as a result, leaving people facing the brutal Siberian cold.
Pictures show roads transformed into rivers following the pipe burst, while one video from atop a high-rise building appears to show cars washed away by the flood. The crisis has prompted a criminal investigation into how it could have happened. It's estimated that some of the water pipes used by the city are nearly a century old with water bosses having previously expressed concerns they were still in use as recently as two years ago, according to Sergei Pakhomov, head of the State Duma's Construction, Housing and Utilities Committee.
Meanwhile, homes in another part of Siberia have also been plunged into darkness and with electricity over current infrastructure issues, the Moscow Times reports. The country is currently in the grips of an upcoming election as Russians are set to go to the polls later this month.
But the flooding and heating issues have reportedly meant at least one polling station in Novosibirsk cannot open. Tyrant Vladimir Putin is widely expected to be re-elected in the first election since he ordered the invasion of Ukraine nearly two years ago.
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Images have showed the city's road transformed into rivers from the flood (telegram)Residents in the village of Novozavidovsky, Tver Oblast, appealed directly to the warlord and president in a video message, in which one woman said: "We're literally being killed by the cold." Authorities in the village's region have also opened a criminal investigation amidst claims one water intake used customers' money for themselves.
More than 70 per cent of communal infrastructure is said to have been affected by decay, pro-Kremlin paper Izvestia reported in 2022. Russian media claims Putin has asked Emergency Situations Minister Alexander Kurenkov to provide heat and electricity to affected residents.