Hello!

This is Svetlana Bronnikova, a journalist with the independent media outlet 7x7.

Spring 2026 began with a catastrophe in the North Caucasus. At the end of March, the region was hit by torrential rains that meteorologists have already called the heaviest in a century. While officials reported being "ready," the water turned city streets into rivers and villages into islands within a matter of hours.

Estimated reading time: 4 minutes

Flood сhronicle: over 1,500 рomes submerged

Heavy rains hit the North Caucasus on March 27, triggering widespread flooding. Media outlets described the rainfall as the most intense in 100 years.

• In Dagestan, authorities declared a state of emergency in six districts and five cities. At the peak of the storm, 560,000 people were left without power, and 100,000 without drinking water.
• In Chechnya, a state of emergency was declared in nine districts. Authorities did not disclose the exact number of de-energized homes, limiting their statement to claims that services were working in "high-alert mode."

By the morning of April 2, more than 1,500 residential buildings had been flooded across the two republics—nearly double the 872 homes reported just 24 hours earlier. Some areas continue to submerge as of today.

Sergey Melikov, the Head of Dagestan, insisted that sewage systems had been cleaned for three consecutive days, but claimed the "precipitation exceeded the most pessimistic forecasts."

In Chechnya, a taxi driver from the village of Elistanzhi and a resident of the Vedeno district told Kavkaz.Realii that municipal services did not arrive immediately. Locals were forced to handle the aftermath of the disaster on their own—pulling people and animals out of the water and helping retrieve belongings from flooded homes.

"Makhachkala is not ready again": local authorities spent 550 million rubles on storm drains

Rasul Magomadov, a resident of Makhachkala, recalls his school history lessons:

"Remember that phrase, 'Russia was not ready for this war'? We used to laugh at it back then. Now, we make the same joke about Makhachkala. Every year, hundreds of people lose their property, and every year, the city is 'not ready.'"

Behind this "unpreparedness" are specific figures. Journalists from the Baza outlet discovered that in recent years, the authorities of Dagestan’s capital spent over 550 million rubles on storm drains. Where did the money go? A partial answer came from a criminal case in the fall of 2025: the director of the "PIK-Stroyservis" company was accused of embezzling 40 million rubles through fictitious documents related to the repair of those very drains.

While officials were busy with budgets, residents of the village of Kurush reported on April 1 that they were completely cut off from the world. Help only began to arrive after a post about their situation went viral on major Telegram channels.

Citizens take action while waiting for rescuers

In the absence of professional rescuers, people helped each other evacuate.

• Shamil, 19, from Kaspiysk, simply went out to the store and ended up spending hours pulling women and children out of the torrent. The young man went missing for 24 hours—social media users began to mourn him—but it turned out he was simply exhausted and had been taken in by a hotel in Makhachkala.
• Khatib Dzhabrailov, from a village in Dagestan, saw a neighbor's house sinking. He ran for a saw, cut through the window bars, and pulled out four children. Immediately after, he rushed to save a drowning young man. Khatib was unable to protect his own home; it was completely destroyed.
• In the village of Tsilitl, locals pumped out water themselves. Neighbors of MMA fighter Ramazan Gasanov manually cleared a landslide that buried his yard while authorities merely promised to "look into the situation."

The Nadezhda Charitable Foundation raised over 50 million rubles for victims in less than a day. Entrepreneurs offered free water, flashlights, batteries, and even free medical consultations.

Why does this keep happening across Russia?

The Caucasus is not alone. On April 1, Volgograd was flooded, and in the Irkutsk region, the village of Khomutovo has seen homes go underwater for several years in a row. Experts highlight three main reasons for this "eternal flood":

1. Infrastructural Collapse: Bridges and roads are built without considering water flow. Instead of letting the floodwaters pass, they act as dams, flooding residential areas.
2. Shifting Responsibility: Since 2019, climate adaptation has been the responsibility of the regions, not the federal center. Local subjects often lack the funds for large-scale dam reconstruction.

In 2024, flood damage exceeded tens of billions of rubles. The forecasts for 2026 are grim: due to a snowy winter, "big water" is expected in 42 regions of Russia.