FLOODWATERS from a collapsed dam kept rising in southern Ukraine today, forcing hundreds of people to flee their homes in a major emergency operation as shelling continued.

Civilians in Kherson were scrambling to get out of the danger zone, climbing onto military trucks or rafts during the disaster response while artillery shelling fell.

The Kakhovka dam was blown up on Tuesday, leaving some residents spending the night on rooftops as the floodwaters continued to swell.

Water levels were expected to rise by another three feet today and engulf more downriver areas along the banks of the Dnieper.

It was still not known what caused the collapse by today, with Ukraine pointing a finger at Russia, while Russia blamed Ukrainian shelling.

Experts said the collapse may have been an accident caused by wartime damage and neglect, but others said this was unlikely and argued that Russia might have had tactical military reasons to destroy the dam.

The Kakhovka hydroelectric dam and reservoir, one of the largest in the world and essential for the supply of drinking water and irrigation to a huge area of southern Ukraine, lies in a part of the Kherson region occupied by the Kremlin’s forces for the past year.

It was reportedly at “record high” water levels before the breach, according to the British Ministry of Defence.

The Dnieper river separates the warring sides in the region.

Kherson regional military administration head Oleksandr Prokudin said more than 1,800 houses were flooded along the Dnieper and that almost 1,500 people had been evacuated.

Both sides warned of a looming environmental disaster from polluted waters, partly caused by oil leaking from the dam’s machinery.

The empty reservoir could later deprive farmland of irrigation.