A heavy downpour in Almaty flooded the stairwell of a nine-storey apartment building, with water reaching as high as the fourth floor. Residents described the flooding themselves, infohub.kz reports.
According to local residents, the flooding began around six in the morning. To stop the water, people placed buckets, basins and even pots in its path, but this did not help. The heavy rainfall filled the containers so quickly that the water nearly reached the lower floors.
"I woke up and saw a puddle here, water flowing right through this panel. I wanted to turn on the light and got such an electric shock that I didn't even feel it in the adrenaline. When everything had settled down, I felt it then," Almaty resident Inkar Kaliyeva said.
After the incident, residents contacted the KSK (housing cooperative). According to them, a technician arrived after numerous calls, but the leak could not be fully stopped, and emergency service specialists were unable to help either. They explained that the roof should have been dealt with in advance.
"Well, the leak means the roof needs fixing. The connection between the storm drain and the roof. Somewhere here it has clogged with dirt and debris. We'll start cleaning it now, and it will run down to the three-room apartments," emergency service specialist Yevgeny Solomatin said.
It was previously reported that the Almaty akimat had commented on the consequences of heavy rain in the city. It was noted that 36 mm of precipitation fell in the city overnight. Almaty residents complained about flooding on some streets after the rains, and drivers complained about huge traffic jams caused by the rain. Later, the Almaty akimat said that over the past two days, 76% of the monthly precipitation norm had fallen in the metropolis, but there were no new floods.