Bodaybo: heat close, but residents still cold

At the end of January, a major utility accident occurred in the northern town of Bodaybo (in Irkutsk Oblast, Russia). The town had been experiencing prolonged frosts for almost the entire month, and one night the city water supply froze. More than 1,300 people were left without heat and water. All this happened when the temperature outside was -40°C (-40°F). Here is a summary of everything known as of the evening of February 4 about the freezing town.

Chronology of events

The utility accident occurred in Bodaybo in the night of January 30. Residents living on different streets began noticing problems with water, and radiators gradually cooled down. On Friday morning, many woke up in cold apartments.

It turned out that the central water supply had frozen and the city«s boiler houses stopped working. As a result, more than a hundred homes, housing over 1,300 people, and some social facilities were left without heat and water. The Investigative Committee (SK) opened a criminal case over the incident.

On January 31, a state of emergency was declared in Bodaybo. Rescuers arrived in the city along with the head of the Ministry of Emergency Situations (EMERCOM), Vyacheslav Fedoseenko, and operational groups. Heating and temporary accommodation points were set up, especially for the most vulnerable — retirees, families with children, people with chronic diseases. Governor Igor Kobzev called the situation critical, and the mayor of Bodaybo, Evgeny Yumashev, asked residents to temporarily move to relatives or to temporary accommodation centers (PVR) to avoid freezing in cold apartments.

The residents themselves organized a mutual aid chat and began delivering water, food, heaters, and blankets to each other. We have shared stories of volunteers helping others around the clock to keep from freezing in this material.

Utility services began work to restore the water supply. The main task was to build a backup section of the water supply from flexible pipes. This decision was reached on Saturday, but it could not be implemented due to the frost.

Then it was decided to weld a backup water supply on the surface. Specialists from gold mining companies were brought in for the installation. Employees of management companies flew in from Irkutsk to assist. Work was supposed to begin on February 1, and the authorities expected to start heating homes the next day.

On the morning of February 2, residents complained that apartments were starting to thaw out. The laying of the temporary pipeline was completed only by evening, after which it was decided to start supplying water to the boiler houses in two ways. One of them (BMK) switched to hot mode on February 3, but the heat did not reach residents.

Due to the frost, the pipes leading to residential buildings also froze, so building just the temporary pipeline was not enough to solve the problem.

«60 meters of pipe have frozen on the networks. If they are not thawed and the ice plug is not melted, there will be no point in starting hot water. Now workers are urgently solving this problem,» said Igor Kobzev.

In parallel, the nearest homes began to be connected from the LZDT boiler house.

What changed on February 4

This morning, work to restore heating and water supply in Bodaybo continued. Overnight, boiler houses were started in the city, but only two homes were connected to heat from the LZGT heat source. At the same time, three boiler houses have reached standard parameters with make-up from reserve tanks.

Meanwhile, residents started panicking because the sewage system had frozen in their homes. Some residents complained that they were rudely told to wait until spring, when everything would thaw on its own.

The mayor of Bodaybo and Bodaybo District, Evgeny Yumashev, remarked that back on the weekend he had asked people not to use the sewage system or at least to flush warm and hot water into it to avoid aggravating the situation. Currently, the authorities are prioritizing starting the water supply, and there is no capacity for the sewage system yet.

In addition, Yumashev today asked residents to save hot water in homes already connected to heat. According to him, if the system is used too actively, it could disrupt restoration work, since the main water main is not operational and the boiler houses are running on temporary make-up tanks.

For those who need to wash, the city«s bathhouse was made free of charge in Bodaybo.

Also today, specialists worked on increasing the distance of hot water supply from the BMK boiler house. It is to be connected to Secondary School No. 3 and a special correctional school.

On February 4, specialists from the Irkutsk Region Capital Repair Fund (Fond Kapremonta Irkutskoy Oblasti) flew to Bodaybo to inspect homes and determine what work needs to be done after the accident.

In his Telegram channel, Governor of Irkutsk Oblast Igor Kobzev stated that private homes in the emergency zone are ready to receive water. The networks leading to them are operational.

All victims of the utility accident are entitled to a one-time payment of 15,000 rubles (approximately $167 at current rates) per person. As of February 4, 1,274 people have applied. Payments will start arriving from February 5.