There are many settlements in the world that, for a number of reasons, have gone to the sea or river bottom. These are the so-called flooded cities. Each of them has its own interesting, and often tragic fate. What cities were flooded and what were the reasons for these floods, we will now find out.
Causes of cities flooding
Causes of city floods can be very diverse, but they are divided into two main groups: natural and artificial. At the same time, each of these categories is subdivided into many specific cases.
When people talk about artificially submerged settlements, they first of all mean cities flooded by reservoirs. The purposes of creating these man-made reservoirs were different. They were created for the operation of hydroelectric power plants, for breeding fish, storing fresh water in large volumes, and so on. Especially many reservoirs on the territory of Russia and other post-Soviet states were built during the Soviet era. According to the type of reservoir, they are divided into river and lake.
Flooding of the territory also occurs for natural reasons. This could be sea level rise, groundwater, or other factors. Particularly catastrophic effects of the flood, when it wearssudden nature.
Sunken cities of our Motherland
The flooded cities of Russia are an invariable part of our history. The reasons for the flood were different. But most of them went under water in the 30-50s of the last century, when large-scale construction of reservoirs and hydroelectric power stations was carried out. How many cities were flooded at that time? 9 large settlements are named, seven of which were located on the Volga, and one each on the Ob and the Yenisei. What cities were flooded? These are Mologa, Kalyazin, Korcheva, Puchezh, Vesyegonsk, Stavropol-Volzhsky, Kuibyshev, Berdsk and Shagonar. Some of these settlements were completely flooded, while others were partially flooded. We will now find out what the flooded cities of Russia were like and how their fate turned out.
Mologa: history of the city
Mologa, the city flooded by the Rybinsk Reservoir, is the most famous of the Russian settlements lowered to the bottom. This village was located at the confluence of the river of the same name into the Volga, at a distance of a little more than a hundred kilometers from Yaroslavl.
The exact time of the settlement of the territory where the city of Mologa appeared in the future is unknown, but already in the first half of the 14th century the Molozhsky principality existed as a specific part of the Yaroslavl reign. In the following centuries, the settlement grew and developed. He gained fame as a fairly large shopping center. Since 1777 it became the main county town, having also received its own coat of arms. It housed several churches and a monastery. With the coming to power of the Bolsheviks, the city became a district center.
Thus developed Mologa. The flooded city at the time of sinking to the bottom of the reservoir had nine hundred houses and seven thousand inhabitants.
Flooding of Mologa
But, despite the intensive economic development of the region, in September 1935, a decree was announced on the creation of the Rybinsk reservoir, which meant the flooding of large areas. At that time, it was supposed to be the largest artificial reservoir in the world.
The project started in the same year. According to the original plan, the water level was to be raised by 98 meters. Considering that Mologa was also at this mark, she was not threatened with flooding. But two years later, the plan was revised, and the level of water rise increased to 102 meters, which significantly increased the area of flooding. The implementation of this project was supposed to turn Mologa into a flooded city on the Volga.
Resettlement of residents to other cities began in early 1937, mainly in the nearby village of Slip, and took 4 years. In the 1940s, the city was flooded. Private houses, buildings of enterprises, churches and the Afanasyevsky Monastery went under water.
From now on, Mologa is a flooded city. But in 2014, there was a significant decrease in the water level of the Rybinsk reservoir, which allowed entire streets of this once bustling settlement to come to the surface.
Kalyazin - a city on the Volga
Another flooded city on the Volga - Kalyazin. The first historical information about Kalyazin dates back to the 11th century. But for a long timeit was a rather small settlement, which was far from the title of a city. Life in Kalyazin began to revive after the construction of the Makariev Monastery in the 15th century. This monastery became a place of mass gathering of pilgrims, which served as a significant impetus for the development of the city. By the way, among them was the famous Tver traveler Afanasy Nikitin. We can say that this spiritual institution has become a kind of “city-forming enterprise.”
The city managed to go down in history thanks to the famous battle of Kalyazin, in which Russian troops under the command of Prince Skopin-Shuisky defeated the Polish army in 1609.
In 1775, Kalyazin received the status of a city and became the center of the county. From that time until the establishment of Soviet power, this settlement was a significant regional trade center.
Kalyazin goes under water
In 1935, the construction of the Uglich hydroelectric power station began. In this regard, in 1939-1940, Kalyazin was also lowered into the water. The flooded city was only partially so. First of all, the historical part of the settlement suffered. In addition, such outstanding architectural monuments as the Makaryevsky and Nikolo-Zhabensky monasteries were destroyed.
People who lived in the submerged part of the settlement were relocated to unaffected areas, but despite this, in fact, Kalyazin is a flooded city.
Korcheva
The city of Korcheva shared the fate of Mologa. It is these localitiesthe only flooded cities in Russia that are completely submerged. The rest sank to the bottom only partially.
At one time, Korcheva was also the center of the county. But with the beginning of industrialization, the construction of the Ivankovsky reservoir began. Most of the people were resettled in the village of Konakovo, and Korcheva itself was flooded.
Other sunken cities on the Volga
Besides, there were four more flooded cities on the Volga. These are Puchezh, Vesyegonsk, Stavropol-Volzhsky and Kuibyshev.
Puchezh was partially flooded in 1955-1957 during the construction of the Gorky reservoir. Mainly the old part of the city with architectural monuments and buildings went under water.
The city of Vesyegonsk was flooded a little earlier, in 1939, like Mologa, during the construction of the Rybinsk reservoir. As in the case of Puchezh, the city partially sank to the bottom.
Another flooded city - Stavropol - had an unofficial name of Stavropol-on-Volga, or Stavropol-Volga, to distinguish it from the North Caucasian namesake. At the time of the flood, which occurred in the mid-1950s, 12,000 people lived in the city. All of them were relocated to a new place, not far from the old settlement, which took over the name of the city that had gone under water. Thus, the continuity was preserved. And on the site of the former settlement, the Kuibyshev reservoir is now flooding.
New Stavropol in 1964 was renamed Tolyatti, in honor of the famouscommunist leader in Italy. Now it is one of the largest cities in Russia with a developed industry (primarily the automotive industry), and a population of 700,000.
In the 50s of the XX century, the city of Kuibyshev was also flooded, until 1936 it was called Spassk-Tatarsky. It was located on the territory of modern Tatarstan. Before the flood, people were relocated to a new place, near the ruined historical city of Bulgar, but the new settlement was still called Kuibyshev. Only in 1991 the city was renamed into Bolgar.
Flooded cities of Siberia
Of the more or less significant settlements flooded in Siberia, one can single out the cities of Berdsk and Shagonar.
Berdsk was founded back in the 17th century on one of the tributaries of the Ob, but it became a city only during the Great Patriotic War. True, in this status he did not last long. In the 1950s, large-scale construction of the Novosibirsk reservoir on the Ob River began. Berdsk was subject to flooding. People were relocated to a new place, located at a distance of eight kilometers from the old city, during 1953-1957. As you can see, it was not a momentary process, but stretched out for four whole years. As a result of the transfer of the old city to a new location, it became a major industrial center. But Berdsk completely lost its historical buildings, since all of them were under water.
Shagonar is another Siberian city that has experienced flooding. It was located on the territory of the Tuva ASSR and was located on the banks of the high-water Irtysh. This city wasflooded later than other settlements in Russia during the construction of the Sayano-Shushenskoye reservoir in the 70s of the last century. Then he was moved to a new place, seven kilometers from the old settlement. But, unlike Togliatti and Berdsk, the transfer to a new location did not have a positive impact on the development of the city. Now it is a small town with a little over ten thousand people, a population consisting mostly of ethnic Tuvans.
Flooded cities in other countries
Flooded cities exist not only in Russia, but also in other countries of the world. Often the cause of their flooding was also human economic activity. For example, in the US, about a hundred small towns have been sunk to the bottom to build various power-producing facilities. In addition, they produce fresh water.
For the same purposes, a settlement in Venezuela called Potosi was flooded in 1985. But since then, the water level has dropped significantly, and therefore the flooded city is gradually beginning to rise to the surface.
As far back as 1938, the Mead artificial reservoir was formed in the US state of Nevada. It so happened that for the construction of this reservoir, the small town of St. Thomas had to be flooded. Now this lake is drying up, and, as in the case of Potosi, the tops of old structures are appearing on the surface of the water surface.
In 1950, in northern Italy, two lakes - Resia and Muto - were artificially combined into one. This was done in order to implement the projectfor the production of electricity. As a result, the small town of Curon was flooded. The only evidence that there was once a settlement here is the bell tower of the 14th century church, sticking out of the water.
To build the largest power plant in Brazil, the settlement of Petrolandia also had to be flooded. The new city was built a little further from the flooded settlement.
Also, in order to increase the energy supply of the country in 1972, a town in the north of Portugal called Vilarinho das Furnas was lowered into the water. Moreover, the settlement has been located here since ancient Roman times.
In the late 50s of the last century, the ancient Chinese city of Shi Cheng on Qingdao Lake was flooded to create a dam on the Xian River. During the resettlement of local residents, about 290 thousand people were equipped. This is probably the largest resettlement in the world in the history of artificial flooding of the city.
In 1988, a natural disaster flooded the Romanian town of Bezidu Nou. The tragedy of the event is strengthened by the fact that as a result of this disaster, all 180 residents who lived there died.
Ancient cities underwater
But cities were flooded not only in the last century. Similar cases took place both in antiquity and in the Middle Ages, but often they were caused not by human intervention, but by natural disasters.
Everyone probably knows the legend of Atlantis. This is the first evidence of urban settlements sinking to the bottom, although, of course, one can argue about its historicity. According to the writings of Plato,then, as a result of the largest flood, not one city, but an entire continent went under water.
Another evidence of such a catastrophe is given in the Bible. This is the death of the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, which, according to legend, went to the bottom of the Dead Sea. Unlike the sinking of Atlantis, the hypothesis of the existence of these cities has a significant scientific basis.
Also at one time, Alexandria, Canopus and Heraklion in Egypt, a city on the Japanese island of Yonaguni, sunk 2000 years ago, Saefting in the Netherlands, who died in the depths of the sea in 1584, Port Royal in Jamaica were partially or completely flooded, destroyed by a flood in 1692, Port Julius and Bailly in Italy, Pavlopetri and many other island cities in Greece, Atlit-Yam in Israel, an unknown Mayan city in Guatemala, discovered at the bottom of Lake Atitlan, ancient cities on the island of Kekova in modern Turkey.
As for Russia, first of all, it should be noted the former capital of the Khazar Khaganate - the city of Itil, which disappeared without a trace, which, according to some experts, was washed away by the Volga.
This is not all the flooded cities of the world, but we have mentioned the most famous of them.
Flooding for good?
There has long been a debate on whether the flooding of some settlements is justified and expedient, or can there be no worthy justification for such actions? On the one hand, the state, and its population as a whole, after the construction of a hydroelectric power station or a fresh water reservoir, have significant economicbenefits.
But at the same time, one should not forget that the relocation of people from one place to another causes various social and economic difficulties in adaptation, which not every person endures painlessly. In addition, the flooding of settlements is associated with the destruction of houses and household structures, and often cultural values.
Yes, and the fate of the settlements moved to a new place, has developed in different ways. Some grew and became large industrial centers, becoming larger and more beautiful than the flooded cities were, while others disappeared altogether.
Therefore, the problem of the ethical and economic feasibility of flooding settlements is rather ambiguous.
