OREANDA-NEWS. July 27, 2007. In view of the extremely high flood that hit the region where the Zeyskaya HPP is located, I would like, in the first place, to laud the professional performance of the power plant's staff headed by Director Irina Savelyeva, reported the press-centre of RAO "UES of Russia".

She has demonstrated absolute professionalism and courage in this very difficult situation. The plant's staff were able to stop the most severe flood over the past hundred years, with the headwater level standing a mere 68 centimetres lower than the allowable level this morning, and preserve all of the plant's equipment, including hydraulic locks, in an absolutely operable conditions, which demonstrates that the whole team acted in a most efficient and professional way.

At the same time, we understand how dramatic the situation is, we feel for the sufferings of the people who found themselves in the flooded area, no matter whether their houses were built legally or illegally. No doubt, all our efforts will be focused on minimizing the area affected by the flood. We are making our best endeavours to prevent the expansion of the flooded area and the number of people who may be affected by the flood.

Over the past two days, the situation has somewhat improved. The level of water inflow has decreased from 7,000 to 3,100 cubic metres per second, which is a good sign. However, the flood is not over yet, and the plant's team is working round the clock in an emergency mode.

In my opinion, both from the viewpoint of a person and the state, in a situation where lives of thousands of people literally depend on the team's work, initiating of criminal proceedings by the public prosecutor's office is not the best step to take. Now it is necessary to save people and prevent new tragedies, and the investigations may be started afterwards.

The most important thing for us is that the aftermath of the worst flooding over the past one hundred years has been minimum. Imagine for a second what could have happened if there had been no power plant [on the Zeya river]. Currently, the discharge at the dam is 4,700 cubic meters per second, while not very long ago the inflow was 7,500 cubic meters per second. If there had been no power plant, the flooded area would have doubled. It is the HPP built back in the Soviet period that prevents these great risks.

I believe that the main thing today is to allow the team of the Zeyskaya HPP headed by Irina Savelyeva to do their job professionally. Especially, as they have demonstrated that they can do it.