Kuban authorities reported on the progress of restoration work on the power grid.

Power has been restored in the mountainous areas of Sochi, and heating has been restored in the Belorechensky District, according to Kuban authorities. In neighboring Adygea, more than 30,000 people remain without power.

As reported by the "Caucasian Knot" newspaper, approximately 43,000 residents of Kuban were left without power on January 1 due to snowfall. Emergency outages also affected several railway stations in the Krasnodar Territory, delaying approximately 50 trains. A state of emergency was declared in the Belorechensky District due to a large-scale power outage, and local residents were asked to move to temporary accommodation centers. Residents were outraged by the authorities' failure to respond promptly to a forecast of heavy snowfall.

On the evening of January 1, Krasnodar Krai authorities reported that power had been restored to several areas damaged by severe weather. Specifically, power had been restored to all lost-power settlements in the mountainous areas of Sochi. Repair crews continue to work in the village of Solokhaul and other remote settlements where access for specialized equipment is inaccessible: mobile diesel generators are providing power to residents there until the grid is restored, according to the Kuban Operational Headquarters.

A diesel generator was also delivered to the village of Gorny in the Tuapse Municipal District; it is planned to power the local boiler room. By the evening of January 1, power had not been fully restored in the villages of Gorny and Oktyabrsky. The villages of Shaumyan, Navaginskoye, Goytkh, Terziyan, 1st and 4th Gunayka, and the village of Paporotny also remain without power. According to authorities, approximately 2,800 people live in these villages.

"By 10:00 p.m., power was restored to water supply facilities in the Ust-Labinsk RZhD microdistrict, the Geymanovskoye rural settlement of the Tbilisi district, and in Krasnaya Polyana (Sochi). Work continues in individual villages in the Novokubansky, Kurganinsky, Apsheronsky, Gulkevichsky, and Tbilisi districts," the task force's Telegram channel reported.

At 11:21 p.m. Moscow time on January 1, authorities reported that heat had been restored to homes and water intake had been reopened in all settlements in the Belorechensky District. By 12:30 a.m. Moscow time today, power had been restored to four settlements in the Kavkazsky District. "Work continues in Kropotkin, Kavkazskaya, Dmitrievskaya, and Temizhbekskaya. Power remains to be restored to approximately 550 customers," the statement read.

Against the backdrop of these government reports, residents of various settlements in Kuban continue to complain about the lack of power and heat. At least four people wrote about the problems in the comments to the latest Telegram post by Veniamin Kondratyev, the governor of the region, after midnight on January 2.

“Take control of the situation in the Gulkevichi District. More than seven villages and hamlets have been without power and water for three days now! Please organize water delivery. Elderly people and families with children remain in the villages. The roads are slippery. The city is 15 km away,” wrote user nasty zuk.

“Stanitsa Neftyanaya – no power. No contact with elderly parents. The last time we contacted them was yesterday. They have a boiler, powered by electricity. No power – no heat,” reported Elena.

“In the Belorechensky district, there's also been no power, heat, or water since the 31st. There's about a meter of snow. Only this afternoon did the power come back on. Water and bread in the stores have skyrocketed in price, and you can only pay in cash. It's -12 degrees Celsius or lower now. It's freezing in apartment buildings and private homes. People are freezing. Not everyone knows there are temporary shelters (at least we only recently found out online, since we turned on a generator and the Wi-Fi worked). No one's talked about it on the streets, only online, but how can people know if so many phones are dead and there's no internet?” wrote Anna R.

“Khadyzhensk, we've been without power for three days now. The roads aren't cleared. Communications were restored only at 7:00 PM on January 1st. The stores are closed. We can't go anywhere,” complained Victoria.

In Adygea, where a large-scale blackout also occurred, thousands of residents are still without power. A state of emergency has been in effect since December 31st in Maykop, Maykopsky, Giaginsky, Krasnogvardeysky, Shovgenovsky, and Koshekhablsky districts: initially, the number of customers without power was over 97,000; by 9:00 PM Moscow time on January 1st, that number had dropped to 59,000. By the end of the day, energy officials planned to reduce the number of customers without power to 34,000, the head of the republic, Murat Kumpilov, reported on his Telegram channel.

According to Kumpilov, 19 more energy crews from neighboring regions will arrive in the republic on the morning of January 2. He also promised that employees of his administration and "all government agencies" will clear snow from the streets of Maykop in the morning.