Spontaneous attack on Belarus. The storm destroyed wood, cars and planes

The hurricane left about 500 settlements in the Brest region without electricity, knocking out more than 200 kilometers of high-voltage lines. In Brest, the storm lasted less than half an hour, but even during this time it managed to cause trouble: it broke and uprooted trees, blew roofs off buildings, and overturned advertising structures. Then the disaster affected 148 settlements in 28 regions of the country, and the roofs of more than 320 buildings were damaged. Another 642 settlements were left without electricity. Fortunately, no people were injured.

August 2005

The United States was hit hard by Hurricane Katrina, the most destructive hurricane in its history. Earlier, hurricane-force winds caused horrific destruction on the European continent - from the Scandinavian Peninsula to Poland. Belarus was also affected, where the disaster left about half of the capital's residents without electricity and also damaged about a quarter of the populated areas.

January 2007

The powerful hurricane Kirill struck Europe, wreaking havoc and destruction across the continent. He took over our country too. 2,088 Belarusian settlements were affected by hurricane winds, 1,890 were without power (most of them in the Vitebsk region).

August 2010

The disaster of August 8, 2010 came unexpectedly. In the Myadel region, the time of the beginning of the thunderstorm was recorded exactly: 14.40, it lasted 15 minutes, however, such consequences of the hurricane in the Myadel region have not been remembered for the last ten years.

The main damage was caused by the wind; gusts of up to 25 meters per second were recorded. The hail caused a lot of trouble. Some hailstones in Myadel could be compared in size to a chicken egg. In just 15 minutes of this “bombardment,” the roofs, walls and windows turned into a sieve. There is also little left of plantings in local gardens in the private sector... As a result of a thunderstorm and strong wind on August 8, thousands of settlements in Belarus were damaged. In total, the roofs of 397 residential buildings, 20 social and cultural facilities and 513 agricultural buildings were damaged. 2,072 settlements were cut off from power.

March 2013

On March 15, 2013, a real snow apocalypse occurred in Belarus. "Javier" came to us in March, when there was a lot of snow. At that time, up to 26 millimeters of precipitation fell in the southern and central regions of Belarus. At the same time, the precipitation was accompanied by wind gusts of up to 20-25 meters per second and a very strong snowstorm. The height of the snowdrifts the day after Javier was 50-60 centimeters in Minsk. In the Mogilev region, snowdrifts were higher than 60 centimeters in places.

In the 20th century, Belarus rarely suffered from the devastating consequences of storms, tornadoes and hurricanes. But in last years Ministry of Emergency Situations warnings about the orange danger level are published more and more often. Gismeteo has prepared information about the most powerful hurricanes in Belarus.

Reference. Hurricanes are tropical cyclones that form over the ocean as a result of the interaction of cold atmospheric masses with warm and humid ones. During hurricanes, wind speeds reach more than 30 m/s. Forecasters classify “weaker” storms as storms.

Summer storms in 2016 and 2017 caused severe damage

A powerful storm passed through Minsk, Vitebsk and many other regions on July 11-13, 2016. The cities were hit by heavy rain, accompanied by heavy winds (up to 25 m/s).

578 settlements and about 10 hectares of forest were affected by the disaster, Gismeteo experts note. The storm caused damage to hundreds of agricultural and industrial facilities, damaged the roofs of residential buildings, turned streets into rivers and even collided planes at the capital's airport. Several dozen people were injured.

A year later, Belarus was again subjected to the devastating effects of a storm. At the end of June 2017, a powerful thunderstorm front passed over the Minsk, Brest and Grodno regions. The thunderstorm brought showers and strong gusty winds (up to 22 m/s).

The storm raged for 24 hours, so there was less damage than in 2016. The storm resulted in 58 fallen trees, 56 damaged roofs, hundreds of houses without power and several destroyed agricultural buildings. The consequences of the storm were recorded in 11 settlements.

Belarus is rarely severely affected by hurricanes due to geographical location. For a significant part of the year, the weather informer shows low wind speed - no more than 3.1 m/s. The city of Novogrudok is considered the windiest: here the wind speed often reaches 4 m/s.

The most powerful hurricanes rage in North and South America, and faint echoes of these elements “reach” Belarus. But they also bring a lot of trouble. Thus, in 2007, the country suffered from the weakening hurricane Kirill, which left houses in 1,890 settlements without electricity. And in 2005, the subsiding Hurricane Katrina damaged wires in Minsk and many other cities.

Tornadoes in Belarus

Meteorologists even periodically record tornadoes. Previously, this phenomenon was rare - only 1 case in 2 years. Recently, atmospheric vortices with a diameter and height of up to 1000 meters appear 1-2 times a year.

The most destructive tornado occurred over the village of Sharkovshchina in June 2016. The tornado injured three people and received injuries of varying severity. The whirlwind left 2 villages without electricity, damaged 20 roofs and broke 3 calf sheds.

Quite often, tornadoes are recorded in the Gomel region. In 2017 and 2015, relatively weak eddies formed here. The most devastating consequences were caused by a tornado in July 2009.

The strongest winds

The record wind speed for Belarus of 40 m/s was recorded twice by the weather station in the city of Dokshitsy - in 1967 and 1969. The same indicators were noted in other settlements - in Sharkovshchina (1969), Ivantsevichi (1961) and Slutsk (1951). In Minsk, the strongest wind blew in 1955: gusts reached 28 m/s.

Subscribe to our telegram channel

On the evening of June 23, 1997, an incredible hurricane of incredible force burst into Belarus from the direction of Ukraine. The storm raged for only 7 minutes, but left behind colossal destruction. We talked about this for a long time.

Unpredictable element

“Unfortunately, it was not possible to obtain information about the onset of the hurricane in time. Similar natural phenomena“in principle, it is very difficult to predict,” ecologist Leonid Chumakov analyzes the arrival of the storm. – The main sign of a hurricane is a sharp change in temperature. And, indeed, that day there was a jump from 16°C to 31°C! But it was no longer possible to influence the situation. Moreover, the first blow fell on the communication lines.”

Hurricane coming

Eyewitnesses said: “The black cloud flew from the sky like an airplane.” The storm raged for about 7 minutes, but this was enough for Monday, June 23, to be called “black.” The wind speed that evening reached 30 m/s, in the Gantsevichi region - up to 32 m/s, the amount of precipitation was equal to the average monthly norm - up to 60 mm.

Natalia Yelyashevich, a native resident of the village of Khotova, Stolbtsovsky district, recalls: “... the storm was incredibly powerful. The children hid under the table out of fear; it was scary to even look out the window.” Stanislav Chernyavsky, who was not afraid to pull back the curtain at that time, saw “how two black whirlwinds united into one, walked with a crash across the field and separated again.” In the surrounding villages, residents said that one family’s horse, tied in a field, was blown away forever by the wind.

From the material of the newspaper “Evening Minsk” (06.25.1997, No. 118): « Ratomka, a village ten kilometers from Minsk, was not spared by the hurricane. Local boys played football on one of the show jumping fields of the Republican Center for Equestrian Sports and Horse Breeding. When it started to rain, they hid under the roof of a small building for judges and commentators. Teenagers passing by also ran in. Suddenly, a sharp gust of wind lifted the poorly secured roof, and bricks fell from the walls with a roar. The children ran away in fear. It was at these seconds that the roof was finally thrown to the ground towards the doorway. Viktor Ushakov, who lived next door, was the first to hear the cries for help. He began to save children. The former Afghan freed 14-year-old Pasha Kuprienko from the collapse, who was unconscious - with a broken head and obvious fractures of the pelvic bones. Neighbors arrived and helped pull out Tamara Bulanda, who had a broken leg. Half an hour later an ambulance arrived from Borovlyany and Ratomka. 18-year-old Sasha Brudsky is unconscious in the intensive care unit of a regional hospital...”

Consequences of the 7-minute invasion

The losses, human and material, were significant. A few days later, information was received about 5 deaths, about 50 people were hospitalized. In the Minsk region, 2,327 residential buildings and 262 industrial enterprises were damaged. The Brest region lost about 50% of power lines, hundreds of villages were left without power. Small settlements also suffered losses: in the village of Molodovo, Ivanovo district alone, 265 houses were damaged, and the dome of the Orthodox church was knocked out.

Leonid Chumakov describes what he saw this way: “I found myself in one of the most affected areas - Volozhinsky. While inspecting the areas, I was extremely struck by two things. Firstly, the way 2 houses were destroyed in one of the villages near Volozhin: their roofs were not torn off - neither logs nor bricks were lying around. It seemed that someone from above put pressure on them - so they came together like houses of cards. Then, when I got to the Stolbtsovsky district, I saw hectares of forest where the trees seemed to have been cut with a razor: 2/3 of the trunk remained, but the crown was gone. It cannot be that the wind cuts off all the pines at the same height. I have never encountered such anomalies again; neither I nor my colleagues have ever found a reasonable explanation for this.”

In addition, agricultural crops were severely damaged on an area of 70 thousand hectares, and the forest fund and processing industry suffered serious damage. Traffic was paralyzed in many directions: fallen trees blocked roads and railways. Throughout the country there was a shortage of fuel, cable lines, and building materials. To restore houses in the Ivatsevichi district alone, about 80,000 sheets of slate were urgently needed.

From Leonid Chumakov’s analysis of the environmental situation: “In general, the 90s turned out to be rich in anomalies; we can remember the drought in 1992, the Polesie flood in 1993, the hurricane in 1997, and finally the eclipse in 1999. It seems to me that the reasons for all these negative phenomena originate in the 60s of the last century, when more carbon dioxide, methane, sulfur, and nitrous oxide began to enter the atmosphere. Large-scale land reclamation in Belarus occurred at the same time. Rapid climate change began in our country in 1988; apparently, in the 90s we reached some kind of critical point, which is why all of the above cataclysms happened.”

Political reaction

The President was vacationing in Sochi at that time. The very next day, the press service of the head of state reported a telephone conversation between Alexander Lukashenko and Chairman of the Council of Ministers Sergei Ling. Among other things, they talked about the hurricane. Lukashenko sent telegrams to the relatives of the victims. Although he shortened his visit to Russia, he decided not to cancel his planned trip to the Krasnodar region. For which he was criticized by the opposition. Upon returning, the president nevertheless went to the affected areas and met with local residents.

Shoigu's arrival and international assistance

Leonid Chumakov recalls: “On June 25, the Minister for emergency situations Russia Sergei Shoigu. I myself worked for the Yeltsin government in the early 90s, dealing with Chernobyl issues. Shoigu was a young minister in 1997; I don’t think he could have much influence on the current situation. They promised that Russia would help with construction materials and equipment.”
The next day, at a briefing at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the decision was announced not to apply for international assistance, but if any state decides to take the initiative, not to refuse. Oddly enough, the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic was one of the first to offer assistance, joined by Italy, China and Kyrgyzstan.

Postponement of holidays

The hurricane destroyed the weekend too. To raise additional funds to help the victims, the Council of Ministers announced a cleanup day on July 28 and 29. But the celebrations of Republic Day and the 930th anniversary of the city of Minsk were promised to be held on a grand scale and last 4 days, from July 3 to 6. The Belarusian Popular Front and the Social Democrats immediately opposed this policy, calling large-scale public festivities “plague festivities.” “Veskakh has a mountain, Minsku has a holy one,” wrote Svoboda. The total damage from the hurricane was estimated at 1-1.5 trillion. rubles At the same time, about 50 billion rubles were spent on the improvement of Minsk before the holiday alone; the cost of the military parade was not leaked to the press at all.

aircraft collision, flooded streets, fallen trees, broken cars and houses... And today again the weather forecasters promise bad weather

It has been raging in Belarus for several days in a row, sweeping like a whirlwind through the cities and regional centers of the republic. The hurricane overturns cars, tears off roofs and uproots trees. We bring to your attention a selection of facts about the consequences of the hurricane.

1 . In Minsk, more than fifty streets and squares were reportedly flooded. In addition, numerous cases of trees downed by the storm were reported throughout the city.

Minsk. Photo: twitter.com

Minsk. Photo awb.by

2 . At the Minsk national airport, two planes collided due to strong winds. However, airport employees were quick to report that, despite the incident, the airport continues to operate as normal.

National airport of Minsk. Photo vk.com.

3 . A powerful hurricane managed to sweep through Grodno and nearby areas. A forest felled in the village of Tarusichi.

The village of Trausichi, Grodno region. Photo 015.by

4 . In Derzhinsk, city residents noted that such a hurricane had never happened in their memory. This is confirmed by broken windows and torn off roofs of houses.

Derzhinsk. Photo TUT.BY

5 . . A large number of destroyed houses, farms and various kinds of buildings. The hurricane even overturned cars.

Sharkovshchina. Photo: sputnik.by

6. Strong winds disrupted the operation of the railway junction. Many trains do not arrive on schedule due to bad weather conditions. Some trains may not depart on time. Passengers are forced to simply wait at the station...

7 . In the village of Sharkovshchina, the hurricane was so strong that it even overturned cars and tower cranes.

Sharkovshchina. Photo by Yuri Rubnikovich

On July 14, thunderstorms and rain are expected in Belarus. The country has again declared an orange alert level.

That year the thunderstorms were scary, this year the winds were scary. A dangerous month passed storm, but yesterday tornado. According to the stories of people who saw from villages and from houses Sharkovshchina, he walked from the direction of Braslav, passing by the villages of Shurpaki and Sosnovtsy. It was large in diameter and of incomprehensible shape. According to my observations, the line of destruction ran from the bridge over Yanka and diagonally, crossing the streets, ending along Gorky Street. Krasnodvorskaya and Skorins were injured. He caused the most trouble in the area of the race track, filled the cemetery with pine trees, and destroyed the store.

Most of the damage involved roofs being torn off, windows breaking, and walls being damaged. Light structures collapsed, but concrete ones remained. The windows were broken as if stones had been thrown there. High-rise buildings were also damaged. Roofs, windows and balconies were damaged. The fragments swirled in the air and fell on cars. There are injured people.

In the village of Marki, a farm collapsed on calves and people.

From the videos it is clear that tornado changed shape, was sparse, but wide. From high-rise buildings you can see how the roofs were torn off by the whirlwinds. The media write that the wind speed was 16 meters, but it must be taken into account that the rotational force is always greater than the linear one. Where there was usual storm, nothing was damaged. I filmed from the window. We had storm, but not destructive. And a tornado passed nearby, 200-300 meters away. He destroyed what was in his path. What did not hit the epicenter was simply blown away by the wind. And farther away there wasn’t even normal wind.

What's surprising is that the heavy cranes fell onto the freight train. I climbed one of them. They are metal and large. Probably the wind blew through from below and above, it jerked and fell.

I was at home myself. I was surprised that the wind rose out of nowhere. There was no thunderstorm. I ran to the balcony to take pictures and check the windows. The clouds were not large thunderclouds, but small ones, and the rain was light. I didn't hear any thunder. The shape of the cloud was a little twisted, but what was confusing was that storm was on the ground, not in the sky. The cloud moved slowly. I thought that the wind flow was strong below and weak above. I didn’t know that there was a tornado on the side, I watched more as the oak tree was shaking the wires, this always scares me, because... then the lights go out and the computer turns off. Then everything calmed down, I got a call about a tornado. I flew into the city, drove around everything, examined the destruction, and determined the route. I called the village home to make sure there was no one in the village.

My video:

Storm June 17, 2016

This storm was normal, but we haven’t had so much damage before. There are many fallen trees in the forest, some are still lying there in a dangerous state. Not long ago, a pine branch fell in front of me. The debris hangs, then breaks off. Sometimes trees whistle and want to fall all the way, but they can’t.

In my building, several apartments have damaged windows. I got scared when objects flew into my windows from above and crashed into me. The wind was also a little twisted, it was swirling, the wires were twisting around. This storm covered the entire region. He passed through a large area of the country. The roofs were not particularly damaged, the windows were larger and the trees were larger.

My video:

Dangerous Summer

Summer is weird this year. There was wild heat for two weeks, then two weeks of cold, now it will be hot again, they promise. Climate changed, so the weather conditions became dangerous. That year I could leave the windows open. This is no longer possible. And you need to turn off the computer and close everything. Well, at least the windows are plastic, stronger.

I'm afraid that storm It always comes suddenly, I can’t have time to take cover, I’m afraid of thunderstorms. When I'm in the forest, I get worried if I see a cloud. I got caught in the rain twice, but it rattled and went away. I suffered all the scary moments at home, I was lucky.

For example, if I’m at the base, I have nowhere to hide there. Everywhere is dangerous. Field and forest. I'm following the forecast.