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Just wanted to share this as I have been following it closely on the Russian internet. It was pretty sad as this happened at night, when most people were asleep at the time. Many were caught in their homes unprepared. The water reached heights of 6 meters and was moving VERY fast. It had been raining for days and the land was soaked thoroughly. On or about the night of 7 July a major storm came through and dumped 2 months worth of rain in about 3 hours. It knocked out electrical power to the city and the warnings broadcasted on radio and television were not received by the population. A few local police officers drove through the streets in their cars but to little benefit, 2 of them lost their lives in the flood. Not even street dogs could get away from it.

Cleanup is well underway but the people have lost a lot, help is coming from all over Russia and there is a rumor that the relief agencies are simply overwhelmed with the volume of supplies coming in. I saw one interview of a woman who had a clothing store, it was what her family depended on but in one night it simply disappeared. There was nothing left but the foundation of the little building.

Here are some pics and videos, mostly from the day after. Some are graphic. The death toll stands at about 150-200.

When the Whole Life Just Floats Away, Part II - English Russia

When the Whole Life Just Floats Away, Part II - English Russia

When the Whole Life Just Floats Away, Part III - English Russia

Youtube vid.

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There was a lot of flooding from heavy rains in Western Japan recently too, the photos are very similar.

I read that too, the Japanese are dealing with it better but then they're well drilled at dealing with such things. Unfortunately. What makes this stand out is because I have never seen Russia/Russians respond in the way they have here. 20 years ago, even 10 years ago it would have been just another scene in the whole disaster Russia was at the time. The trucks leaving Moscow with the donated supplies would have never even gotten there before being stolen. This time around Russians had the means of communicating with one another and capability to mobilize a response not just on a government level but on a civil level also. Russia has come a very very long way. There are some bugs to be worked out, affordable insurance for one thing. The Extraordinary Situations Ministry finally seems to have it in one sock and even showed up with their own equipment. The cleanup effort is being run by them. Compensation for losses is still done by the government. Each affected family gets around $6000 which is not near enough to replace what was lost.

Do you think social media helped?

Definitely, and radio. Television didn't do much to start any efforts, radio stations all over Russia were organizing a lot of it. Ironically social media caused some problems, a lot of panic mongering was going on conspiracy theories ect. The mayor was almost lynched. One rumor had it that the gates to the reservoir north of the city were opened. It's not true, there are no large gates on the reservoir, only smaller ones for irrigation canals. What part of the problem was though is the reservoirs bed is clay, water doesn't drain away like with a rock bottom. In places the water came over the dykes. Social media was good and bad, you know how hysteria and panic works.