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Residents of the Pakaunė Radikiai settlement are divided into several camps: some say the flood is likely and they are preparing for it, others say the conversation about the impending flood is greatly exaggerated.
During the spring 2010 flood, the residents of Radikiai, Saliai and Kleboniškis, located in lower places near the Neris, suffered the most. After artificially raising the level of the banks of Neris in Kleboniškis, this district of Kaunas has been protected from flooding: its inhabitants can sleep peacefully when the water level rises in the Neris.
However, the Radikiai embankment on the other side of the river is still being prepared, and the mood of residents expecting a possible flood is different.
Upon entering Radikiai, the message “Attention! Danger of flooding! ”Many residents of this garden community, which has become a settlement, remember well the year 2010. Flood.
The house of Viktoras and Rimanta is one of the houses closest to the riverbed. Eleven years ago, floodwaters had flooded the first floor of his home. “The last time everything was covered here: the river water had risen sharply by 6.5m, the water had risen for a few seconds. The first floor of our house covered furniture, appliances, clothes, everything. The car parked in the yard drowned, there were a lot of tools in the garage, they drowned, everything in the basement drowned. Just the night before that flood, I bought a pig from a farmer to get meat, and that drowned. So no one warned of in advance about the impending flood, nobody expected that. A neighbor called me the second night and said: turn off the electricity, we are drowning, “said Viktoras.
Rimanta said that many cars were flooded and many animals drowned during the flood. “Then the fence was broken and some people broke the windows. The losses were enormous and almost no one was insured. Here 35 m. People lived quietly, such things did not exist and they did not insure. We were not insured either,” the woman recalled.
Now most of us are insured against property and preparing for a flood – we carry a lot from the first floor to the second floor.
Radik residents said that now, unlike 2010, they are preparing for a flood. “Now almost all of us have the property secured and we are preparing for the flood: we took a lot from the first floor to the second floor,” the spouses recalled.
They doubted that the breaking of the ice at Radikiai Nery would actually protect this settlement from flooding. “The ice broke on us, but if they leave Vilnius, Jonava, they can crash here again. The worst thing is at the Neris junction between Radikiai and Saliai: there is the most ice cream congestion,” Radikiai residents said. They doubted whether the Radikius will protect against future floods and this year a wall is planned to be built.
Radikiai resident Antanas Godvaiša also remembers the flood well. It shows the mark left on the glass of the greenhouse, where the water had risen that time; the mark reaches the man above his head. “A neighbor called me at night and said: Antanas, let’s drown! He had gone out into the field and saw water coming down the street. The water broke the windows on the first floor of his house, covering everything there. When they called me, I let the wolf out of the aviary and the chickens drowned. I tried to open the garage and get the car out, but I couldn’t open the garage door anymore, the lock was already under water. The water carried the viewpoint that was in the courtyard a few meters ahead, the firewood moved away ”, said the oldest.
Curious people sailed on the bank of the Neris in Radikiai on Saturday. Some went to see how the so-called icebreaker works, the technique of pulling the river out of the ice. Others were brought here because of the threat of flooding. “We are not locals, we are tourists, we have come to see if the flood begins,” said two girls and a boy who were walking along the coast.
Radikians Edita and Kęstutis Jociai also came to see what Neris looks like now. “We are happy that now the situation is completely different, that preparations are underway for a possible flood: the ice is breaking in Neris. We are happy for the neighbors. Now we live on a hill, but during 2010. the flood that we live here near – low. What we experienced during the flood is very scary. Those who have not experienced it will not understand it “, Jociai is convinced. – We were the first to feel that water. It was around 2:30 pm at night . We heard some sounds, we went to the Neris, we looked at the ice cream stand, it did not go away, it was jammed. And before we got home, the ice cream hit us. The man kept reassuring me: don’t be afraid, you will take those ice creams immediately. And I shout: the machines are already half a wheel, the whole wheel in the water! We were not surprised by that, nor did we take the documents, everything collapsed “.
However, not all Radikiai residents tend to communicate with journalists. “There will be no floods here, here only the media will panic,” a young man speaks to the photographer as he passes by us, but they no longer respond to us when they interview us. An older couple cannot speak either. “Here everyone goes, talks, we are tired,” he explains why he refuses to communicate.
One kilometer from Radikiai is the settlement of Saliai on the same right bank of the Neris. Several residents of the former garden community have also been affected since 2010. flooding.
“The authorities have now requested temporary relocations without waiting for the flood, carrying leaflets. But our house is quite solid, two floors, it will not cover at all. During 2010 I was gone, the man was at home. Then the basement of our house it was completely flooded, our Pylimo street was flooded; in the garage, which is further from the river, the water reached the wheels of the car. Then the ice on the terrace of the house was pushed to the side a few meters “, Genė Vitkauskienė, a resident of the Hall, said.
However, he is confident that the flooding will be avoided this year because the ice has broken in the Nery.
Forecasters are not ruling out the possibility of a repeat flood similar to 2010 in Kaunas district this year. According to them, the collapse of the ice cream, as well as the sudden rise of the water, can be caused by the sudden increase in air temperature and the construction below the Neris.
Photo by Eitvydas Kinaitis
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