Pastor Eugene is crossing the Dniper to evacuate people in Kherson. Due to the collapse of the dam, water flooded houses and people have to leave their homes.
Local church rescuing people and delivering food/water
Eugene started at the very first day of the flood to rescue people from houses that were flooded. He was using a rubber boat with low-power engine (5HP) and could only reach some remote areas of Kherson. We provided a boat for him and his local volunteers. They use it to rescue people and to deliver food/water to those who are blocked and due to different reasons are not willing to evacuate. The boat has a capacity of up to 6 persons and a powerful motor – 30-Horse Power (HP). This is extremely important when you are crossing the Dniper and need to overcome its strong flow. Eugene is pastor of the local church of Kherson.
This church provides support for people in need in the area. They organised a meeting point for the refugees at the church and at the place where volunteers deliver rescued people. When people arrive, they provide clothes, hot meals and hot beverages, food packages and accommodation for the rescued people before they move further to other cities.
We were swimming around and shouting about evacuation
When we launched the boat on saturday, the police informed us about two persons that needed to be rescued. One of them was thought to be disabled. So we crossed the Dniper’s gulf and reached the district which is called Ostrov (the Island). It consist mainly of apartment buildings. Unfortunately the information was incorrect and this people where not in place. We were swimming around this district and shouting about evacuation. But none of the people there were ready for this. Instead they asked us for food and water, which we provided. Also we transported some of them to their relatives.
He was standing in the knee high water in front of his house
On our way back we met a 70 years old guy named Ivan. He was standing in the knee high water in front of his house. He asked us to rescue him. He had spent a few days at the roof of his house because he was afraid of being robbed. But after a few days he realised that all his belongings were damaged by the water anyway and decided to leave. He was glad that his wife left the house a few days before the flood and he was going to look for her.
The street was blocked with a damaged roof
Unfortunately helping is difficult. Sometimes people ask us to look for someone and we cannot reach the house or find the person. An elderly woman asked us to visit her house and rescue her disabled relative. We tried but the street was blocked with a damaged roof and we were not able to reach the house. What makes it dangerous is that there still continues to be shellings in Kherson. Sometimes we saw explosions only a few hundred meters away from us.