The true reasons for the flooding in the Kuban, which claimed several hundred lives and destroyed thousands of houses, are unknown. However, there are several theories on this score, both official and "popular".
On the night of July 7, a flood began in the Kuban, which destroyed houses in Gelendzhik, Novorossiysk, Krymsk and a number of villages. At that moment, when the first warning from the Ministry of Emergency Situations appeared, the survivors were already sitting on the roofs of houses, and the elderly, children and invalids who could not escape, died. It is this fact that allows us to assert that representatives of the Ministry of Emergency Situations are partly to blame for the deaths of hundreds of people, who did not warn about the disaster in time and did not organize the evacuation.
Too much rainfall is said to be one of the causes of flooding. According to official statements, a five-month norm of precipitation hit the Kuban over the course of a day, causing rivers to overflow their banks and flood cities. Krymsk suffered especially badly, where the water level in some places exceeded the mark of three meters. The stream was so strong that cars and even trucks were overturned by the pressure of the water.
An unofficial version, which officials reject, is the breakthrough of the Neberdzhaevsky reservoir or organized or automatic discharge of water from it. In particular, the representatives of the Investigative Committee managed to establish that the water from the reservoir really drained out when the heavy rain began, but it is impossible to say for sure what exactly this led to the tragedy. There are also rumors that the drain was not automatic, but specially organized, since the officials had a choice: to flood Krymsk or allow water to pass through other parts of the Kuban, including the area where President Putin's dacha is located. This version has neither been confirmed nor refuted.
And finally, the official theory says that the flood in the Kuban was due to the development of flood-prone areas. To prevent the tragedy from repeating itself in the future, Gosprirodnadzor, Rosvodresurs and Roshydromet were instructed to take all the necessary measures. It was decided to restore hydrological posts as soon as possible, to ensure the best functioning of the meteorological stations in Krymsk and Novorossiysk, as well as to take measures to prevent new natural disasters.
