TAMPA, Fla. — You’ve seen the video of rescues and seen the massive amount of water rushing out of the collapsed Kakhovka dam. It’s flooded Ukraine’s grain fields.
The area is impassable. Those who are there say it is much darker than you know.
Tampa-based nonprofit Project DYNAMO has been in Ukraine since February 2022, and as the war has evolved, so have their rescue missions. Right now, they’re focused on helping those impacted by the massive flooding in southern Ukraine.
The group shared pictures and videos of team members navigating flood waters. You can see boats filled with people, women waiting on a roof for rescue, and animals stranded. It’s what you don’t see that makes the flood waters dangerous and deadly.
“Nobody likes to see the body bags. Nobody wants to see that. Everybody wants to see the heroes. Nobody wants to see the victims,” Bryan Stern, Founder and CEO of Project DYNAMO, said.
Stern offered perspective as the team, comprised of military veterans from all over, operates in Ukraine.
“We’re a rescue team. We operate in the gray space when the U.S. government can’t be present for whatever reason,” he said. “There are Americans that are stuck in Kherson right now, in the flood. Who’s coming to get them?”
Stern says submerged under the murky, brown waters are bodies of animals, people, cars and houses. There are also deadly bacteria and there are landmines and homemade explosives.
“They’re floating upside down doing this sort of thing. So, if they bump into something, they explode. And you can’t see them,” Stern said.
Try to navigate that.
The group used lessons learned in Ukraine during its rescue efforts and work following Hurricane Ian in Southwest Florida. Lessons learned from Ian influenced what they are doing now.
But they are not in America that looks like a war zone, they are making those same rescues and missions in a war zone.
“It’s very tough to say that we’re making any progress. I mean, it’s a very, very difficult situation. It’s hard to get places, it’s hard to get boats,” he said.
In fact, Project DYNAMO held a fundraiser in Tampa to buy boats as they predicted water would become an issue in the war. They raised $117. They need funding to help continue efforts to save people.
“When their enemy hates us, it’s our responsibility to help,” Stern said.
To be clear, they are not fighting though they have been on the receiving end of gunfire. The Ukrainian forces are fighting and organizations like Project DYNAMO are there as a humanitarian rescue team.
If you would like to assist in funding their efforts or to learn more about their work both in Ukraine and outside of Ukraine, visit projectdyanmo.org.