Major accident leaves Bodaibo without water and heat for six days

In Bodaibo, Siberia, where at the end of January prolonged severe frosts froze utility lines, crews are still working to fix a communal accident that has left 140 houses and more than 1,000 people without water and heat. Here is what is known by the evening of February 3.

Freezing Bodaibo: what happened

The communal accident came to light in the media on January 30, but local public pages reported that the emergency had occurred earlier. On the morning of January 30, the city«s first deputy head Oleg Gorin told an IrCity journalist that in Bodaibo, the water pipeline froze amid night frosts of -50 degrees Celsius (-58°F).

According to him, emergency services spent all Thursday thawing the pipes and the situation seemed to normalize, but the next morning «it froze again.» Because of this, three boiler houses stopped working. At that time, according to local administration estimates, 100–120 houses, including in the private sector, were left without water and heat.

First, a state of heightened readiness was introduced in Bodaibo, and then an emergency situation. The Investigative Committee, in turn, opened a criminal case under Article 238 of the Russian Criminal Code (providing services that do not meet safety requirements). Regional officials flew to the North: the first deputy governor of Irkutsk Oblast Roman Kolesov, Minister of Housing Policy and Energy Anatoly Nikitin, and the head of the EMERCOM department for Irkutsk Oblast Vyacheslav Fedoseyenko.

To fix the accident, they tried to thaw the water pipeline and also create a backup option — laying soft pipes on the surface. But due to the frost, this could not be done, the mayor of Bodaibo and Bodaibinsky District Yevgeny Yumashev told an IrCity correspondent. The only option left was to weld a metal temporary water pipeline on the ground surface. The total length of the backup water pipeline will be 750 meters.

For the installation, welders and plumbers from the gold mining companies Lenzoloto and Vysotayshiy were involved, and equipment and specialists from Gazprom were delivered by helicopter. Additionally, from Irkutsk, specialists from management companies were sent to speed up the work.

On the evening of February 1, Yumashev asked the affected residents to move to relatives or to temporary accommodation points, warning of increased load on power grids and the risk of emergency power outages. It was expected that by the evening of February 1, water would be supplied to the heat sources, and by the morning of February 2, heat would be restored.

But on the morning of February 2, Bodaibo residents began reporting thawed apartments, with temperatures in living spaces dropping to 6–7 degrees below zero Celsius (21–19°F). We tried to get a comment on the situation from Yumashev, but he refused to talk, not even listening to the question.

«The whole issue is in the communications to the houses»

By the evening of February 2, authorities stated that connecting houses would proceed under two scenarios. For the first, insulation and wrapping of the backup water pipeline with an electric heating cable were underway. The second scenario involved connecting houses through boiler houses with water delivery.

By noon on February 3, the mayor of Bodaibo stated that the main boiler house of BMK was already in hot mode, and the whole issue was in the communications to the houses. On the networks, 60 meters of pipe had frozen, and if they are not thawed and the ice plug melted, there will be no point in starting hot water.

Another heat source — the LZDT boiler house — is already supplying heat to nearby facilities.

«Specialists are connecting residential buildings at Sadovaya, 5b and 5v to heat. There are also problems there, heating transformers are being used to thaw the supply mains. We plan to supply water today,» noted Yevgeny Yumashev.

Another boiler house, «MOSOTRYAD-44», by noon had been fired up and was gradually reaching temperature mode, connecting nearby facilities, according to the Telegram channel of the administration of Bodaibo and Bodaibinsky District.

«As an alternative, installation of a 10-cubic-meter tank at the BMK boiler house is planned to operate on delivered water, if the central water supply is not quickly restored. Additional technical specialists and equipment are expected to arrive tomorrow,» the message added.

Part of the houses planned for resettlement

In total, 140 houses remain without heat. Of these, 56 are apartment buildings, 18 of which require heating system repairs. Special attention is given to 26 houses connected to the BMK boiler house and 25 houses powered by the LZDT boiler house.

Emergency houses slated for demolition also fell into the emergency zone. There are 14 such houses in total. Of these, two were planned for resettlement in 2026, one in 2027, and the remaining 11, not included in planned programs, were intended for accelerated funding. In total, 119 families need to be resettled.

Yevgeny Yumashev asked the Russian Ministry of Construction for 273 million rubles (approximately $3 million at current rates) to resettle 11 emergency houses.

«If we had resettled these 11 houses, we would not have incurred large costs for their restoration. Most residents will receive monetary compensation according to the law. We will need to buy some residential premises, which are in excess in the city of Bodaibo, and there are no problems with this,» emphasized Yumashev.

The Bodaibinsky District is ready to co-finance 25% of this amount, that is 91 million rubles (about $910,000 at current rates), the mayor assured. According to him, this is needed to save resources, time, and prioritize the resettlement of these houses.

As reported by the Bodaibo administration, documents are being prepared to petition for the allocation of funds for relocation from emergency housing, aiming to accelerate the process and complete it by 2026 instead of the initially planned 2027.

«Chaos is happening in the city»

Authorities promised to pay compensation to residents affected by the large-scale disconnection — 15,000 rubles (about $150 at current rates) per person. To do this, it is necessary to confirm that the affected individuals actually lived at the addresses that fell into the emergency zone. Payments are set to begin on February 5. More than 1,000 people have already applied for payments.

Authorities set up temporary accommodation points, but almost no one came to them. Moreover, from the first days, volunteers became active in Bodaibo. Some delivered water, some prepared hot meals, some were ready to host families with children and the elderly. And on the fifth day, they started collecting barrels for water delivery to addresses affected by the shutdown.

An IrCity journalist collected stories of some volunteers who offered their help. Among them were people who regularly engage in volunteer assistance, and, for example, mothers on maternity leave — it is they who prepare hot meals.

One of the girls cooking food for Bodaibo residents left without heating is Tatyana Voloshkevich. She is 34 years old, has three children, and is currently on maternity leave. Despite living in the village of Mamakan, 12 kilometers from Bodaibo, upon learning of the emergency, she immediately decided to help people.

«I put out a call in our village — an emergency collection of warm blankets, plaids, clothes, heaters, »wind blowers«. People are freezing, in houses it»s +22 degrees Celsius (72°F). Disabled people, pensioners, small children. In Bodaibo, there are many people who have no relatives or close ones who could shelter them, help with anything, it is for such people that I reacted first! Then we decided to feed people who have no mobility, whose cables froze, stoves don«t work, sockets melt from overvoltage,» noted Tatyana.

Residents of Mamakan daily bring Tatyana products from which she prepares hot meals for Bodaibo residents. Another volunteer — Lyubov, a resident of Bodaibo. She described the situation in the city.

«Chaos is happening in the city, the situation is heating up, especially felt today! Everyone is tired, nerves are on edge, and of course, scandals are starting due to the long restoration of the water supply,» shared Lyubov.