Floods in Saint Petersburg - Protective Dam

Protective Dam

Construction of a complex of dams protecting St. Petersburg from the floods began in 1979 but was halted in the 1990s when 60% was completed. The President of Russia Vladimir Putin had resumed construction in 2005 and, as Prime Minister of Russia, inaugurated the completed dam on 12 August 2011. The dam is also the last completed part of the Saint Petersburg Ring Road, providing direct roadway access from mainland to the Kotlin Island and Kronshtadt.

The first use of the dam to hold back the incoming Baltic water into Neva bay took place 28 November 2011, when a major storm came from Scandinavia and caused a surge wave. Closing the dam had resulted in decrease of water rise to 1.3 masl, that is below flood level equal to 1.6 masl, which prevented the flood and saved some 1.3 billion roubles of possible damages. Though the 309th flood in the history of the city happened a month later at 27—28 December 2011, when despite closing the dam gates heavy cyclone forced the water to rise up to 1.7 masl which couldn't make serious damage to the city. Specialists suppose that if there were no dam, there could have been level up to 2.3 masl with serios consequences; "What we have recently seen, is just a historical formality", comments main synopticist of St. Petersburg Alexandr Kolesov.