The key facts
- Beavers gnawed through trees that fell onto a power line near the Katai water intake facility in Beloretsk
- Due to the accident, two of the three pumps at the water intake facility lost power
- The repair crew restored the power supply, and both pumps are working again
Beavers caused an accident at a water intake facility
In Beloretsk, Bashkortostan, beavers nearly left the city without water, triggering an accident at the Katai water intake facility. According to the Beloretsky District administration, the rodents gnawed through tree trunks, and the trees fell onto a power line. According to the district administration, as a result, electricity stopped flowing to two of the three pumps of the water intake facility that supplies the city with water. Life.ru specifies that there were three trees, while Gazeta.Ru writes of 'several' — sources describe the exact number of damaged trees differently.
How the consequences were dealt with
Arriving at the scene were the water utility director Yevgeny Petrov and specialists from the city power grids. The repair crew promptly fixed the damage and restored the electricity supply, after which both pumps that had shut down resumed operation and the water intake facility returned to normal operation. Sources do not report any water supply disruptions for residents.
Similar incidents involving beavers
This is not the first such incident this year. According to Life.ru, in July 2026, in the Lomonosovsky District of Leningrad Oblast, beaver dams led to the flooding of 45 household plots in the gardening communities 'Krasnogorskie Pokosy' and 'Yuzhnoye'; no organized evacuation was needed, and the owners of the affected homes left the area on their own. In addition, Gazeta.Ru reports that in late September, in the Sharyinsky District of Kostroma Oblast, three pensioners who had gone mushroom picking were cut off from the shore by beaver dams on the floodplain of a small forest river; rescuers and volunteers led them out of the forest, and no medical assistance was required. The outlet also mentions a case in Poland where beavers knocked down a warning sign.
Context
The incident in Beloretsk shows that beaver activity can affect not only private plots and forest visitors but also critical infrastructure: trees falling onto a power line directly cut power to the pumps of the city's water intake facility. For city residents, the practical significance is that the water supply was preserved thanks to a quick repair, but judging by what happened, utility services have to take these 'lumberjacks' into account when maintaining facilities near power lines. The published materials do not disclose any damage assessment or measures to protect power lines.
