Heating mains break in freezing Russia's Novosibirsk, emergency declared

The administration of Russian Novosibirsk has introduced a state of emergency in the city due to a series of major municipal accidents, and heating points have been opened in the city as temperatures dropped below 20 degrees below zero.

Source: Andrei Travnikov, Governor of Novosibirsk Oblast, on Telegram; Russian service BBC News

Quote from Travnikov: "Unfortunately, events in the heating system emergency zone of the Leninskyi district are unfolding according to a negative scenario. A new pipeline defect has been discovered on Petropavlovskaya Street during the system refill. 

This marks the third rupture in this city block within the last day. Consequently, the supply of the heat carrier is impeded, affecting the restoration of normal heating in buildings located in the Leninskyi district.

In response, an emergency meeting of the regional emergency commission was convened. A decision has been made to declare a state of emergency in the city of Novosibirsk. The management of the emergency response task force has been elevated to the regional level."

Details: On the night of 18-19 January, the fourth heating network accident within a week occurred in Novosibirsk's Leninskyi district. Over 100 buildings had been left without heat due to a rupture in an intra-quarter pipe on Titova Street.

In the past 8 days, the city experienced two major accidents on main heating networks, affecting virtually the entire left bank with thousands of multi-apartment buildings and a population of at least half a million people, as reported by BBC News.

Following the first accident on 11 January, nearly 2,400 buildings were reportedly affected by the emergency shutdown, according to the city administration. Initially, the Siberian Generating Company, linked to Russian billionaire Andrey Melnichenko under sanctions, reported heating disconnections for only 104 buildings.

The second accident in the Leninskyi District on 17 January resulted in the same buildings being disconnected again. The company then attributed the cause of the accident to a "defect" in a pipeline laid in 1963.

Over the last 10 days, in several quarters on the left bank, heating was provided for only a few hours. Residents share photos on social media showing indoor temperatures around 5 to 10 degrees above zero.

During these days, Novosibirsk experiences nighttime temperatures not exceeding 23 degrees below zero. Meanwhile, the city administration has asked residents to "limit the use of heating devices" in buildings with "old wiring."

Following the left bank accidents, ruptures in heating networks began occurring on the right bank as well. On 18 January, in the Oktyabrsky district, 14 multi-apartment buildings were left without heat due to a rupture. On 19 January, a rupture occurred in the city centre, affecting at least 15 buildings.

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