Yakutsk in Spring: A Bleak Photo Essay by YI
Yakutsk's chaotic spring floods streets and sparks public outrage
YAKUTIA.INFO. Spring in Yakutsk, as always, arrives suddenly—with its usual anomalies and familiar excuses. In light of that, we present a spring photo roundup from our correspondents, readers, and YI subscribers, capturing the capital in its least flattering state.
This was the scene on Krasilnikov Street last Saturday, as shared by a subscriber. Anyone remember how bad it was last year? The street was practically underwater—it's terrifying to imagine what comes next.
What happens next on Krasilnikov Street is better left unimagined.
A subscriber's sharp comment on a flooded 50 Let Sovetskoy Armii Street says it all:
"We had guests from out of town. How embarrassing to drive them around like this."
The flooded 50 Let Sovetskoy Armii Street.
Over the weekend, social media buzzed with photos of filthy Volgabus buses. Opinions split into two camps: some blamed the bus companies for neglecting to wash their "gifts from Il Darkhan" (Yakutia's head), while others reasonably argued that the city as a whole is just dirty.
"It's not the buses—it's the whole city that's filthy."
A bizarre flooded building on Lermontov Street in Yakutsk—yet somehow, it still houses shops. Though whether they're still open is anyone's guess. If they were, you'd think someone would have cleared the trash by now.
The flooded building on Lermontov Street.
Meanwhile, a conscientious subscriber continues documenting the republic's capital's endless problems—unfortunately, they're everywhere you look.
"Hello. The mess isn't just on the roads—it's in the courtyards too. This is the central district, Korolenko Street," they write.
The scene on Korolenko Street.
If a "strong manager" can't even clean up what's right under their nose, what hope is there for the rest of the city?
