Life support for settlements in Belarus in the flood zone is not disrupted - Ministry of Emergency Situations

February 8, Vitebsk / Diana Kurilo - BELTA /. The life support of settlements in Belarus affected by flooding from meltwater has not been disrupted. The flood situation is under the control of the Ministry of Emergency Situations, and no complaints or grievances have been received from the public, stated Minister of Emergency Situations Vladimir Vashchenko in an interview with a BELTA correspondent. The minister met with the work collective of the production association "Energokomplekt" in Vitebsk. Monitoring of the hydrological situation on Belarusian rivers is carried out daily. Currently, according to the minister's assessment, the most difficult situation has developed in the Brest region on the Western Bug River, where Brest and the Brest district have been affected by flooding. A challenging situation is also developing in the Zhytkavichy district of the Gomel region. Flooding of farmsteads, outbuildings, and basements has been noted in settlements in these regions. All emergency situations are being monitored, and local emergency commissions are coordinating the work of services and assisting the population. The further development of the flood situation will depend on weather conditions. As the minister emphasized, rescuers have sufficient experience working in the most difficult flood conditions. MES units are equipped with the necessary equipment and means to provide assistance to people and eliminate the consequences of flooding. In each region, emergency commissions have developed plans for providing flood-affected people with food, drinking water, and medications, and the possibility of evacuating people from dangerous zones is foreseen. At the same time, the commissions have taken into account not only the provision of housing for people – places in hotels and dormitories have been reserved for them – but also the possibility of evacuating pets and ensuring the security of abandoned homes. Financial resources for eliminating the consequences of emergencies are allocated from local budgets. Answering a question about the possibility of fundamentally changing the flood situation in areas that are constantly affected by flooding, the minister noted that this requires significant financial costs, and the most pressing issue at present is the timely repair of hydraulic structures. As BELTA reported, more than 200 farmsteads have been flooded in the Brest and Gomel regions to date. Due to heavy snowmelt, rains, high groundwater levels, and the Western Bug River overflowing its banks, 198 farmsteads, 81 basements of private houses, 200 garden plots, and about 200 hectares of agricultural land have been flooded in Brest and five villages of the Brest district. Due to the rise in water levels in the Pripyat River, where the water has overflowed its banks, 26 farmsteads and 10 outbuildings have been flooded in 13 settlements in the Zhytkavichy and Petrikov districts of the Gomel region. -0-