Guards in Transcarpathia help to eliminate the effects of bad weather
After 40 minutes of rain walls in the village of Yasinia, in Transcarpathia, there was no family left who would not suffer from a sudden disaster. In some houses, water flooded the entire ground floor, almost all cars in the village were vandalized, many birds and livestock were taken away with water, almost every corner was left with no vegetable garden.
The first to arrive at the scene were the rescuers and the head of the Yasinyan NGO. It was impossible to get through the village by road — instead of the road, the river flowed rapidly from water, trees, and garbage. People can only be reached by going down the mountain. The village was practically floating in the water, panic and chaos raged everywhere, the whole village was de-energized, mobile communication periodically disappeared. Work to eliminate the effects of the bad weather began immediately. Everyone worked: rescuers, forestry workers, used all the equipment, people saved the farm and each other on their own.
The very next day after the bad weather, the National Guardsmen also came to the village. The head of the Transcarpathian Regional State Administration appealed to the command of the National Guard of Ukraine with a request for help. Guards of the 3rd Battalion of the 2nd Galician Brigade of the National Guard of Ukraine went from Uzhgorod to Rakhiv region.
For more than a week, work has been underway here to eliminate the effects of bad weather. Much work has been done, but no less is ahead. The National Guard tries to help, first of all, the elderly and where the most affected are.
Mrs. Elena's yard is laid to the ground. The water even demolished a concrete bridge that led to the courtyard. Here, an 80-year-old woman lives with her family. She herself was carried out of the water by a neighbor on her shoulders. But worst of all, the water took away her husband Ilya, who still cannot be found.
“I made him coffee, and he said that the horse would go, because the clouds were rushing,” the woman recalls through tears. “I made him coffee, went out to see where he was, and there was already water running in the yard. I saw the horse, but not the man. He helped the whole village here.” Going down the road through the village you
can see a national guard in almost every yard. They help to remove things, furniture from the houses, together with the peasants rake up the silt that the water soaps, frees the yards from trees.
A little lower, along with the faithful puppy Bosik, still lives the old lady Elena. The woman saved not only her life, but also the dog. The woman escaped to her neighbor. I managed to pick up a cow from the yard, but only 4 of the chickens were left. She lives alone, helped only by neighbors and her grandson, who also lives nearby. In truth, he is just as damaged as she is. There is still water in the woman's closet, the dishes are filled with silt. All of the woman's clothes were damaged, as well as furniture and bedding. She now spends the night in the same house, with Bosik on the same bed.
“He is my most faithful friend,” says Mrs. Elena. “It's good that we survived together. The water stood half a meter in the house, the doors now do not close. The water from the house almost took out all my things. Now women come to help me. I barely crossed the bridge before, and now it has been demolished by water. Your guys help me a lot, because I wouldn't have done anything here myself. Not only here in the yard they clear, but they will also present me with what I need. Without them, we would have done well here for a long time.” Mrs. Elena
's barn was demolished. She took the cow to the neighbors higher on the mountain. Now he does not know when he will be able to pick it up, because there is no more where to keep the cattle.
It was not only the house and the courtyard that flooded Yuri. Water, under pressure, carried the door into the boiler room, destroying everything completely. In addition, there was also a minibus in the closed garage. The water knocked out the garage door and took a heavy car with it. His Volkswagen was found 4 kilometers downstream. Only scrap remained of the car.
“For 15 years I was earning, I invested everything in the house, my mother and I live here,” says the husband. - I earned, built, bought a car. It's a pity, of course, but it's good that everyone is alive. Now let's rebuild the yard here.” Guards also work with him in the place where there was once a vegetable garden. The man treats the boys with coffee and goodies, says that without the military it would be difficult. Bad weather did not catch Yuri at home, he was just harvesting hay on the mountain.
There was only an old mother at home. She pulled a goat and a dog out of the mud. She almost lost her life and was saved in the last minutes. Like most of the peasants, she had almost no chickens left. The woman says that she has never experienced such fear.
In each hut they are in need of the missing Ilya. They say he was a “golden man.” He brought on horseback to people the necessary things: products from a store or bazaar, a hostess from vegetable gardens. It is said that they would have bought him at least 10 more horses for the whole village, if only he were alive.
Work is boiling on every meter of the village. Clear the river, restore the road. Peasants do not know when they will recover from the damage. The worst thing is that almost no one has a vegetable garden left, and the supplies for the winter were washed out of the basements.
But among all this disaster there was an event that struck every heart. A 12-year-old girl saved her little brothers and sisters. When the bad weather began, the children were at home alone. The child did not get lost, gathered all the children and took them to the second floor so that they would not suffer. Not only that, the child guessed and de-energized the whole house by turning off the switch. The village council says that they will award her with the distinction “Savior of the Year”.
Text and photo by Alina Novikova
Videos Alina Novikova, Oleksandr Korobko
