What The Footage Of The Latest Flood In Grodno Reveals

• 3.08.2026, 8:52

A few words about the priorities of local authorities.

Widespread flooding following yet another heavy downpour—scenes reminiscent of a disaster movie—are becoming commonplace for Grodno, a city of 360,000, writes "Solidarnast".

The raging elements pose a real danger to the city’s residents—during the most recent flooding, many cars were practically submerged, and one of the semi-basement cafes was flooded.

City authorities appealed to Grodno residents to be understanding of the situation, explaining that the heavy downpour had caused the storm drainage systems to temporarily malfunction.

Of course, no one is immune to such incidents. But all too often, torrential rains in major Belarusian cities, including Grodno and Minsk, result in flooded avenues and streets. This invariably raises questions about the quality and effectiveness of the storm drainage systems.

Against this backdrop, officials’ childish power games look particularly wasteful. In Grodno itself, where over the past two years, thanks to the efforts of regional governor Yuri Karaev, costly reenactments of the “storming of the Reichstag” and the crossing of the Neman River have been staged.

It’s clear that repairing or even upgrading the storm sewer system—given the increasingly frequent flooding—would cost far more than a couple of propaganda-driven reenactments.

But this does not change the fact that city residents care far more about solving pressing problems than about officials exploiting the memory of the war from the last century for their own gain.