Flooding traps cars in ice at elite Novosibirsk residential complex

On Wednesday, January 28, in Novosibirsk, the morning for residents at 1905 Goda Street, 73 began with rescuing cars. Cars were flooded with cold water on a two-level parking lot. By lunchtime, the lower floor was completely flooded and about a dozen cars remained there, which owners did not have time to remove. NGS correspondents visited the scene and found out what residents and the management company plan to do next.

«My brother woke me up, I made it»

The two-level parking lot near the La Grande business-class residential complex stands separately from the main building. A pump was brought to it, and people gathered around. Lowering the pump with a special vehicle is not possible — the road is all icy. The only option is to drag it by hand, but time is needed to decide how exactly to do this.

The accident at the parking lot happened around 9 a.m. The first to notice it were the residents themselves, who immediately wrote in the building«s chat. Some started calling their friends and acquaintances.

«My brother woke me up, he called. The residents who went down first saw the water, they wrote. I managed to get my car when the water was ankle-deep,» says Irina. She is one of the few residents who remained at the parking lot when we arrived.

Most of the cars were able to be removed from the parking structure, but some remained inside. Irina says the exact number is unknown, but it«s about 10–15 vehicles. One of them — right at the entrance to the second lower floor — was signaling for several hours that there was water in the car. By the time we went down there, it had already fallen silent.

«It was just screaming, honking,» Irina laments.

Some only found out that their cars were submerged by around 1 p.m. Irina said she wrote to one of her neighbors, but she didn«t read the message for a long time. As a result, her 2024 Mercedes remained in icy captivity. There are also residents who went on vacation and have not yet learned about the incident.

As Irina notes, representatives of Gorvodokanal (the city water utility) arrived at the scene almost immediately, they closed something and left. But the water did not stop flowing. In the end, the flow was only stopped around 1:00 p.m. By this time, water from the -1 floor had overflowed to the -2 floor, and it turned out to be completely blocked. Due to the frost, the water is gradually turning into ice.

The management company called an organization that pumps water from the first floor. Specialists estimated the work time to be at least eight hours in the best case.

«Water gushed out in a stream»

Those residents whose cars were damaged the most went to the police station to file a report. They almost immediately created a chat and called lawyers for help. As NGS was informed by the press service of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, five statements have already been received at the Zheleznodorozhny district department. They will be registered and passed on to local authorized officers.

For a time, cold water was turned off in the building, but after a few hours, supply was restored. Irina began to worry that the valve had been opened again and water would go to the parking lot, and suggested going to check.

«No-no-no. Who will check? We can»t go there. That«s why we call every time. This is Gorvodokanal»s equipment,« answered a woman who was simultaneously talking with workers.

This turned out to be a representative of Management Company «Dom», local residents suggested to journalists. The woman explained that there was a large decommissioned pipe in the parking lot and water was let into it. Initially, the water was ankle-deep, and the management company called janitors to remove it and Gorvodokanal to shut off the water. But in the end, water gushed from a non-functioning pipe.

«From a channel that is not working, water gushed out in a stream ten times more powerful. They (specialists from »Gorvodokanal«) say it wasn»t them. Someone came and opened the valve. But who came?« the woman says emotionally.

It was not possible to clarify her name; after her speech, she quickly left to supervise the workers.

LLC Management Company «Dom» is registered at the same address where the flood occurred. The company«s founder is Andrey Malov, and the director is Liliana Vasilyeva, according to Kontur.Focus. At the end of 2024, the company»s revenue was 48.4 million rubles (about $528,000 at current rates), and net profit was only 44,000 rubles (about $480 at current rates). According to the website «Moy ZhKKh», the company manages six buildings.

Resident Irina took NGS journalists to see what was happening in the parking lot itself. Electricity in the building was turned off, and moving along the road had to be done with extreme caution. Due to the cold water, exiting cars were skidding on the already formed ice.

«The temperature in our parking lot was -4 degrees Celsius (25°F), I was leaving. So, if we don»t start pumping now, it will crust over and even the foundation might crack,« worries the resident.

Access to the second floor is impossible from both sides. Insulation and other items were placed on the stairs from the entrance side, where residents descend without cars. Irina assumes this was done to prevent people from walking there.

If you can«t even approach the second floor, then there is no water on the minus first floor. The floor there is covered with a thin crust of ice, and the interior is all in a haze. Nothing is visible inside due to the lack of light.

In the end, the workers found a way to deliver the pump to the emergency site. They tied it with several pipes, and a crowd of men, chanting «one, two, three, pull,» dragged it along the road covered in ice. After some time, a Gorvodokanal vehicle arrived at the parking lot.

The NGS correspondent sent inquiries to Management Company «Dom» and to Gorvodokanal.

Last week in Novosibirsk, in two buildings of the «European Bereg» residential complex, pipes burst. The prosecutor«s office launched an inspection. In the press service of the construction company »Brusnika«, NGS was told that in the buildings, the sealing gasket on the pipeline was squeezed out due to prolonged frosts.