SNT Residents Trapped in Snow After Chairman Change
Snowdrifts on roads have reached waist height, blocking all access for residents.
For a week now, one gardening partnership (SNT) in the Avtozavodsky District has been buried in snow. Snowdrifts on the roads have grown waist-high, and people have been cut off from hospitals, shops, and other infrastructure. Snow removal problems in the SNT began after the board chairman was replaced, local resident Dmitry told NN.RU.
Residents cannot reach shops or hospitals due to the uncleared snowdrifts.
SNT No. 3 near Petryaevka station is stuck in a snowbound state. According to Dmitry, under the previous chairman, roads were cleared regularly, as gardeners took turns collecting money to pay for tractor work. In August, a new board head was appointed, who promised that no additional payment would be needed for snow removal—supposedly, it would now be covered by the SNT. As a result, they simply stopped clearing the snowdrifts.
“It’s been snowing for a week—we’ve been asking for a tractor on the road for a week. We can’t just drive out; we can’t even leave the house now. In response to my complaints, the deputy chairman said: ‘Who forced you to live here?’ I’m actually registered here, and not alone, but with my family,” Dmitry shared.
Now he can’t clear the snow himself due to back problems. The other day, the man couldn’t even get to the hospital because of the huge snowdrifts. If trouble strikes, residents will be left without help: fire access road No. 8 is also blocked. Regarding this, Dmitry contacted the EMERCOM (Ministry of Emergency Situations) hotline—they promised to review the appeal within ten days.
“Throughout the winter, snow has been cleared from the roads only twice. Once after the first snow, the second time after a heavy snowfall when all roads were buried up to the fences. Now it hasn’t been cleared for a week. It’s unbearable to live like this,” the man said.
Heavy snowfall has been continuing in Nizhny Novgorod since the beginning of the week. According to weather forecasters, this weekend the city could see another 30 centimeters of snow. Over 29 days, the amount of precipitation has reached 239% of the monthly norm. This January in the capital of the Volga region has become the snowiest in almost a century and a half.
