As floodwaters recede, Ukrainian authorities braced for potential disease outbreaks
LVIV, Ukraine — Nearly two weeks after the destruction of the Kakhovka Dam in southeastern Ukraine, floodwaters are receding, but local officials are grappling with a new concern: the potential for outbreaks of waterborne illness.
On Saturday, local officials in Kherson and Mykolaiv, the two regions hardest hit by the flooding of the Dnipro River unleashed when the dam collapsed, drew up plans to ensure safe drinking water. And doctors in hospitals in those regions have been warned to prepare for the possibility of a disease outbreak.
“Currently, trucks with essential medical supplies for infectious diseases such as cholera are being unloaded,” Oleksandr Chebotarov, the medical director of Kherson City Clinical Hospital, said in a telephone interview Saturday. “Until today we have not had any sick reports, but we are actively preparing.”
The full extent of the disaster, which drained a gigantic reservoir for drinking water and irrigation, is only beginning to become clear. Hundreds of residential areas are still under water, including some under Russian occupation. International humanitarian organizations have shared concerns about widespread pollution and the potential for disease, but Ukrainian health authorities insist they are watching closely for signs of a disease outbreak.
The potential for widespread disease arises as Ukrainian forces fight in the early stages of a counter-offensive, trying to regain control of Russian-held territories. Hanna Malyar, a Ukrainian deputy defense minister, said in a statement late Friday on the Telegram messaging app that Kiev’s armed forces are “progressing gradually” in the south of the country, and in the east against Russian efforts to “make every effort to stop the offensive actions of the Ukrainian troops.”
As that heated military campaign gets underway, civilians in areas near the front lines now face not only the threat of combat, but also the threat of disease. Flooding can increase the transmission of communicable waterborne diseases such as typhoid, cholera, leptospirosis and hepatitis A.
Jarno Habicht, the head of the World Health Organization country office in Ukraine, said the risk of an outbreak of such waterborne diseases was his agency’s main concern..
The organization provided cholera kits to people in the Kherson region and adjacent areas “as a preventative measure” in the spring, before the dam was destroyed, he said. in a statement to reporters this week.
But dr. Habicht warned that the situation was still developing and said hundreds of thousands of people needed drinking water. The WHO and partners in the field also tracked the long-term effects of the release of hazardous chemicals into the water, he added.
Ukraine’s health ministry encouraged people in flood-affected areas to drink only bottled water and said water monitoring has been intensified in those areas.
The ministry has also allayed fears of a possible cholera outbreak, saying there were no recorded cases or suspected cholera infections in Ukraine as of Wednesday. Samples from both environmental sources affected by the flood and from patients with evidence of acute intestinal infection were examined and found to be negative, as stated in a statement.
Viktor Lyashko, Ukraine’s health minister, said the area downstream from the Kakhovka dam is heavily polluted and unsuitable for any use, including swimming or fishing. Humans and animals should not drink the water, he said in an interview with the BBC, adding that even bathing in the water can lead to illness.
“The treatment facilities have switched to emergency disinfection modes,” he said in the interview. “Water quality monitoring in the water supply network has been intensified to prevent an outbreak.”
In both Russian-occupied and Ukrainian-occupied areas affected by the dam breach, fighting an outbreak could be challenging. Local officials on the Ukrainian side must respond to both the ongoing flooding and the threat of disease.
Oleksandr Prokudin, the head of the regional administration in Kherson, said on Saturday morning that despite a drop in water levels, dozens of residential areas are still under water.
In a video message, he said the local water company has begun monitoring the quality of the water daily to ensure it remains safe for use, and that two powerful water treatment systems arrived on Saturday to provide clean water for thousands of people. Similar efforts were underway in the Mykolaiv region, local water authorities said by phone.
Thousands of people had to be evacuated because of the flooding. Oleksandr Khorunzhyy, a spokesman for the State Emergency Service, said in a briefing on Friday afternoon that rescue and recovery operations were still ongoing.
Even in areas that have escaped the effects of flooding, the risk of disease remains. In the Black Sea port of Odessa, garbage, mines, plastic, branches and dead animals wash up along the city’s famous coastline after the dam disaster.
Daria Mitiuk contributed reporting.