Russia’s ‘snow apocalypse’ takes over social media: Locals jump out of windows, dig out building entrances | WATCH
&imwidth=600&imheight=450&format=webp&quality=medium "Russia’s ‘snow apocalypse’ takes over social media: Locals jump out of windows, dig out building entrances | WATCH")
Screengrab from viral videos. Photograph: (X)
Russia’s Kamchatka Peninsula is buried under its heaviest snowfall in 60 years, with giant drifts swallowing buildings and cars, roads turned into snow tunnels, and viral videos showing locals leaping from windows into deep snow as authorities declare an emergency.
Russia’s Far Eastern Kamchatka Peninsula is experiencing the biggest snowfall in 60 years, with vast drifts several metres tall creating unrealistic landscapes, blocking multi-storey buildings, and burying cars. In some regions, more than 2 metres (6.5 feet) of snowfall was recorded in the first half of January, according to the weather monitoring stations. The ‘snow apocalypse’, as the locals are describing it, is the aftermath of a massive snowstorm in the region. Authorities have declared an emergency situation in the region. Meanwhile, officials said that two people have died in Russia’s Far East from snow falling from the roofs of buildings.
Images and videos of cars completely buried in snow have gone viral on social media. While locals were forced to dig out a path to the entrances of apartment buildings, with snow drifts reaching higher than two or even four floors. Some videos showed tall snow walls around the dug-out roads in the city of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky. Some people took it too far and even casually jumped out of their windows, landing in the thick snow blanket, unhurt or just simply sliding down snow drifts.
While heavy snow is not uncommon in the region of Kamchatka, a peninsula in Russia’s Far East that stretches down towards Japan, the unusual intensity of the storm has paralysed the region’s major city with relentless snowfall.
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“I was recommended to declare the situation, which has led to rooftop avalanches that resulted in two deaths, a local emergency. I took that decision,” Yevgeny Belyaev, the mayor of the regional capital Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, said on Telegram.
Meanwhile, the authorities have shut down schools and businesses as the city is forced to switch to remote working due to a massive amount of snow on the roads. Local media outlet Kamchatka-Inform reported that residents were complaining after local stores were running out of essentials like bread, milk and eggs.
“The difficulties arising are purely logistical in nature and stem from travel restrictions. The deliveries are gradually resuming as roads are cleared,” said the regional government head, Yulia Morozova, as cited by local website Kamchatka Media.
Russian authorities have blamed housing management companies for not removing the piled snow and ice from rooftops promptly, saying that this has led to deaths.
