Rodents

Due to a record release of water from the Iriklinsky Reservoir, the provincial Russian city of Orsk found itself in a flood zone. Despite assurances from the city’s mayor, Vasily Kozupitsa, on the evening of April 5, a breach occurred in an earthen dam that had been protecting the Old Town district from the rising waters. The floodwaters rushed toward the residential sector, marking the beginning of a natural disaster that left over 6,000 homes submerged.

Houses flooded up to their rooftops; the wailing of sirens and nighttime evacuations; a shortage of drinking water; looting; negligence and hypocrisy from the authorities; alongside the rescue of pets and the aid provided by volunteers—through the eyes of witnesses and those affected by the flood, the film chronicles several days in the life of a city facing nature's wrath.

Who is to blame? On a federal TV broadcast, the director of a construction company suggested that rodents might have caused the dam's collapse. But are these the real “rodents,” and, more importantly, who are the true “rodents” in this story?