Flooding in Narva: it never happened and here it is again?

2024-07-31 15:10:13

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The intersection of Keres Street and Tallinn Highway has turned into fresh water. Screenshot of “NG” from Facebook video

As it turned out, previous flooding and transformation into raging rivers after a rainstorm on the streets near the renewed ring near Petrovskaya Square in Narva did not happen once. Apparently, for the residents of Narva this is a systemic problem that needs to be resolved quickly.

Instead of streets there are rivers
Another heavy water on Tuesday, July 30, not only flooded the streets closest to Petrovskaya Square, but also the roundabout itself, turning this area of ​​Narva into a lake of sorts. Some cars, trying to overcome a water barrier that suddenly appeared, remained on the ring itself and on the entrances and exits from it.

The reason for the local disaster here, as they say, lies on the surface – the throughput of the storm sewer turned out to be much lower than the amount of rainwater that was put into it. And, after filling the underground storm sewer pipes, the water overflowed. Real rivers flowed along the asphalt, since the landscape of Narva has quite significant slopes, although it is not very impressive to the eye, across almost the entire territory of the city.

Fountains made of hatches and nipples
However, the storm drain failed to cope with its task, not only in the area of ​​the great Narva ring. “Witches’ wells” from grated hats of storm drains began to flow, as eyewitnesses recorded, in the area of ​​Prizma and Fama shopping centers.

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The pipes are in working order, clean, their diameter is not enough to let all the water through.

Fortunately, when the power of the rain weakened, within an hour most of the water from the surface of the streets still went underground, into the city’s storm sewer pipes. By the way, according to one of the online commenters, the discharge of water from nipples in first-floor apartments during heavy rains can be explained by the fact that the drainage system of this house is directed into the city’s storm sewer. And when the storm drain was overflowing, water began to be pushed back into the house pipeline connected to it.

And suddenly the water in the sink started to flow in reverse. “Every resident of Narva gets a home fountain,” they joked on social networks. Screenshot of “NG” from Facebook video

We counted a smaller number
The water eventually went away, but the townspeople still had questions. All their diversity can be divided into two general groups. First of all, why did all this happen in our city? Second, when will this shame stop?
The Narva Vesi joint stock company is responsible for the maintenance of the Narva city’s sewage system, including storm water. The head of this organization, Dmitry Lipatov, explained in his opinion to the journalist Narvskaya Gazeta, that the standards established by the law under which storm sewers were built in Narva were probably not designed for such a large volume of precipitation. which fell in a short time. “We need to create a new hydraulic model, take into account where the flows are, and we will do this urgently,” said Lipatov. “The pipes are in working order, clean, they are not big enough to let all the water through.” According to him, they will be looking for a comprehensive solution, for this purpose builders, designers, and representatives from the owner’s supervision will be sitting at the same table.

If we look further without emotions, then the flood in Narva is not a unique phenomenon at all. On the same days, for example, Riga was flooded. Rainfall has increased across the planet; in the driest part of the Sahara, lakes appear and flowers bloom due to heavy rains. This doesn’t make it any easier for us, but climatologists report that their calculations for a significant increase in precipitation were inaccurate. A sharp increase in rainfall on the planet was predicted from 2068, but this process seems to have gone much faster.

Has everything already happened?
According to information from Narva local historian and archaeologist Ilya Davydov, he discovered in the state historical archive one interesting document from the end of the century before the last one (1889-90). “It’s clear that even there in Narva there was a very big problem with rainwater drainage and flooding,” Davydov told NG. “Even houses that were standing on dry land were under water. Local merchants began to put pressure on the city leadership: at least do something to drain the water! And the problem was solved.”

Davydov said that during archaeological excavations in Narva, many old drainage systems dating back to this time were discovered. For example, he saw fragments of such a system in the Krenholm region. “I was surprised by how voluminous they were—they were like human channels,” Davydov recalls. – This was probably done with reserves. Now the number of pipelines is much more modest.”

I wish I could build something new and keep the old one
Unfortunately, according to the archaeologist, this historic drainage system is now in a state of ruin, it has been taken out of service and the new system has been taken out of service. But still, it partially works – some kind of water and it’s still unknown which direction it flows, he explains.

Davydov confirms that the issue regarding the sewage system is very acute in the Old Town. “Today (July 31 – AM) I myself saw how water flowed like a fountain from the cesspools,” he says. “The city administration is aware of these problems, and will soon start implementing a major project – replacing the drainage system in the historic part of the city. The project is designed for five years – from 25 to 30.”

The post Flood in Narva: it never happened and here it is again? appearing for the first time on gazeta.ee.