Satellite images show the extent of flooding from the Ukrainian dam collapse

New satellite images released late Wednesday by Planet Labs provide some of the clearest glimpses yet of the extent of flooding in towns and villages downstream from the destroyed Kakhovka dam in southern Ukraine. Ukrainian officials estimate that 41,000 people are at risk of flooding on both banks of the Dnipro River, where the dam is.

Cherson

Floods engulfed low-lying neighborhoods of Kherson, the Ukrainian-occupied regional capital, about 40 miles (65 kilometers) downstream from the dam. The water rose about 10 feet above normal in parts of the city and reached the roofs of houses.

Many higher elevations were unaffected by the floodwaters as rescuers in boats pulled stranded residents from their rooftops or upper floors in neighborhoods on the river’s banks.

Residents of the Russian-occupied town of Oleshky, on the eastern bank of the Dnipro, begged for help in chat groups and searched for missing loved ones. The city’s exiled Ukrainian mayor said the city was about 85 percent underwater.

On the Telegram messaging app, a Russian official described Oleshky as the “hardest situation” and said it was “practically completely flooded”.

Korsunka

Korsunka, a Russian-controlled town about five miles downstream from the dam, is one of several flooded villages on the eastern bank. A reporter from Russia’s state-controlled Channel 1 rowed a boat through the streets of Korsunka and said rescues were now only possible by water.