Ukraine dam: Floods devastate tracts of rich farmland

The contiguous humanitarian consequences, successful flooded homes and displaced civilians, are melodramatic enough.

But Ukrainian officials are present informing of superior semipermanent consequences for agriculture crossed 1 of the country's astir fertile areas.

The agriculture ministry connected Wednesday predicted that fields successful confederate Ukraine could "turn into deserts arsenic aboriginal arsenic adjacent year", arsenic captious irrigation systems, which beryllium connected the immense Kakhovka reservoir, cease to function.

The reservoir is accelerated disappearing, sending an estimated 4.4 cubic miles of h2o roaring down the Dnipro River towards the Black Sea.

Before the war, the ministry says, 31 irrigation systems provided h2o for 584,000 hectares (more than 2,200 sq miles) of farmland.

"The dam was the lone root of h2o for irrigation," First Deputy Minister Taras Vysotsky told me.

"The dam and the pumping presumption successful it were needed for america to instrumentality this h2o and present it. This is present destroyed. If farmers are going to person h2o lines, it should beryllium built again from the beginning."

The Kherson portion is among Ukraine's astir fertile and productive.

Apart from its celebrated watermelons, the affluent farmland either broadside of the Dnipro River produces a big of antithetic crops, from onions and tomatoes to sunflowers, soybeans and wheat. Dairy farms are besides apt to beryllium affected.

Russian-occupied areas of Ukraine, including Crimea, which Russia annexed successful 2014, whitethorn spot immoderate of the worst impacts.

The flooding on the Russian-controlled confederate enactment of the Dnipro is importantly worse than connected the Ukrainian-held bluish side.

Further afield, Crimea - an arid peninsula which depends heavy connected Dnipro water, whitethorn spot its supplies adust up altogether.

A canal carrying h2o to Crimea exits the stream astatine Nova Kakhovka, conscionable supra the dam. Once the reservoir is drained, it's improbable immoderate h2o volition scope the canal.

Russian officials accidental the travel on the canal has already dropped significantly, and usage this arsenic grounds to bolster their assertion that Ukraine, not Russia, was down the dam's collapse.

Given Moscow's grounds of falsehoods astir virtually each facet of the warfare truthful far, specified claims merit to beryllium treated with immoderate scepticism.

How agelong volition it instrumentality for this catastrophe to unfold?

Officials are inactive trying to measure the immense travel of h2o done the stricken dam. It's apt that successful a fewer weeks a reservoir archetypal created successful 1956, aft the dam and adjacent hydroelectric works were completed, volition beryllium a stream erstwhile more.

Estimating the outgo of respective years of relying connected rainfall, without capable irrigation, isn't easy. But Mr Vysotsky said it was apt to beryllium betwixt $1bn and $1.5bn (£800m-£1.2bn).

"It could instrumentality up to 5 years to repair [the dam]," helium told me, "or rebuild it again from the start. So if we're losing $1.5bn for 5 years, we tin cipher that the assemblage would suffer astir $7bn.

Even earlier the outgo of the existent losses is calculated, planetary markets person taken note. The flooding helped to trigger a crisp emergence successful planetary wheat prices.

But it's not conscionable agriculture that's going to beryllium affected by this manmade disaster.

Without the reservoir, this morning's connection from the agriculture ministry said: "Not lone farmers and h2o users volition suffer, but besides the sources of drinking h2o proviso successful populated areas."

Officials are scrambling to fig retired ways of getting potable h2o to towns and villages wherever the taps person tally dry.

Another effect of the flooding that residents on the swollen stream are already starting to spot - and odor - is pollution.

When the dam and hydroelectric works collapsed, tons of motor lipid and different chemicals were dumped into the gushing water.

"Although it volition instrumentality weeks to recognize the afloat impact… we tin already spot contamination successful the country is precise high," Sofia Sadogurska, clime and argumentation adept astatine the civilian nine organisation Ecoaction Ukraine, told the BBC.

"Both from the hydroelectric powerfulness presumption itself and from secondary pollutants successful areas. Every metropolis has its ain sewage system."

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called it "an biology weaponry of wide destruction". The country's authoritative general's bureau said it was investigating a imaginable transgression of "ecocide."

After much than a twelvemonth of horrors inflicted by Russia's unprovoked invasion, Ukrainian officials person greeted this latest setback with a benignant of grim resignation.

"The full warfare is simply a disaster," Mr Vysotsky said. "Unfortunately we've had disasters since February 2022. In galore places, from the smallest to the biggest possible."