Russian Dam Bursts Washing Away Railroad—Economy To Lose ‘Billions’

The Russian economy could lose “billions of rubles” after a destroyed dam in the Siberian region of Buryatia caused a river to burst its banks and damage a key transit railway, according to a local Russian official.

The banks of the Kholodnaya River overflowed and affected part of an important transit rail link through the Severo-Baikal district of the eastern Siberian republic, regional governor Alexey Tsydenov wrote on Telegram on Saturday.

Russia’s economy has already been threatened by Western sanctions leveled at Moscow over its invasion of Ukraine, aiming to cut off Russia from its resources to wage its war effort.

“The damage to the country’s economy from idle cargo will amount to billions of rubles,” he added, “plus the cost of restoring the railroad.”

The water appears to have affected the Baikal-Amur Main Line (BAM), a crucial transit railway cutting through Siberia. Stretching around 4,300 kilometers, or almost 2,700 miles, it is one of the world’s longest railway networks. The line runs just to the north of Lake Baikal, through Severobaikalsk and ends at the port city of Sovetskaya Gavan, which is situated next to the Pacific Ocean.

Footage published on social media by independent Belarusian outlet NEXTA shows fast-flowing water through a damaged section of the bridge. Another video circulating online shows a collapsed section of a railway, with water overflowing and covering the tracks.

Newsweek could not independently verify the location or time of filming of this footage. It is not clear from Tsydenov’s statement which dam caused the flooding, or precisely when it broke. Newsweek has reached out to the Russian government for comment via email.

In an updated post on Sunday morning, Tsydenov said officials had introduced a state of emergency across Buryatia because of the aftermath of the dam’s destruction.

There is no threat to local residents, he said in a statement, adding that the water level was receding and authorities would soon restore the travel routes.

“Russian Railways is doing everything necessary to restore the functioning of the damaged BAM section of the railway track on the Kholodnaya River,” Tsydenov said in a separate post, referring to Russia’s state-owned railway company.

Earlier this month, rivers in Russia’s Primorsky region burst their banks after heavy rain across Russia’s far east. The city of Ussuriysk and the town of Spassk-Dalny were two of the worst-affected areas, according to Russian state news agency, Tass.

The floods reported in Ussuriysk, which is the second-largest city in the region, were the most “extensive” and “destructive” reported in the past decade, the state news agency said.