diff --git a/app/vmselect/netstorage/tmp_blocks_file.go b/app/vmselect/netstorage/tmp_blocks_file.go
index 78288d538..7e20d75fb 100644
--- a/app/vmselect/netstorage/tmp_blocks_file.go
+++ b/app/vmselect/netstorage/tmp_blocks_file.go
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@ import (
 	"fmt"
 	"os"
 	"path/filepath"
+	"strings"
 	"sync"
 
 	"github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/lib/bytesutil"
@@ -107,7 +108,7 @@ func (tbf *tmpBlocksFile) WriteBlockRefData(b []byte) (tmpBlockAddr, error) {
 
 	// Slow path: flush the data from tbf.buf to file.
 	if tbf.f == nil {
-		f, err := os.CreateTemp(tmpBlocksDir, "")
+		f, err := createTemp(tmpBlocksDir)
 		if err != nil {
 			return addr, err
 		}
@@ -122,6 +123,21 @@ func (tbf *tmpBlocksFile) WriteBlockRefData(b []byte) (tmpBlockAddr, error) {
 	return addr, nil
 }
 
+// createTemp creates new temporary file in the path dir.
+// If path doesn't exist, it will try creating it.
+func createTemp(path string) (*os.File, error) {
+	f, err := os.CreateTemp(path, "")
+	if err == nil {
+		return f, nil
+	}
+	if os.IsNotExist(err) || strings.Contains(err.Error(), "no such file or directory") {
+		// try re-creating the path and trying again
+		fs.MustMkdirIfNotExist(path)
+		return os.CreateTemp(path, "")
+	}
+	return nil, err
+}
+
 // Len() returnt tbf size in bytes.
 func (tbf *tmpBlocksFile) Len() uint64 {
 	return tbf.offset
diff --git a/docs/CHANGELOG.md b/docs/CHANGELOG.md
index eb5d55989..ca545883c 100644
--- a/docs/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/docs/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -63,6 +63,7 @@ See also [LTS releases](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/lts-releases/).
 * BUGFIX: do not drop `match[]` filter at [`/api/v1/series`](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/url-examples/#apiv1series) if `-search.ignoreExtraFiltersAtLabelsAPI` command-line flag is set, since missing `match[]` filter breaks `/api/v1/series` requests.
 * BUGFIX: [vmctl](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/vmctl.html): properly parse TLS key and CA files for [InfluxDB](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/vmctl/#migrating-data-from-influxdb-1x) and [OpenTSDB](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/vmctl/#migrating-data-from-opentsdb) migration modes.
 * BUGFIX: [vmui](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/#vmui): fix VictoriaLogs UI query handling to correctly apply `_time` filter across all queries. See [this issue](https://github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/issues/5920).
+* BUGFIX: [vmselect](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/): make vmselect resilient to absence of cache folder. If cache folder was mistakenly deleted by user or OS, vmselect will try re-creating it first. See [this issue](https://github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/issues/5985).
 * BUGFIX: [Single-node VictoriaMetrics](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/) and `vmselect` in [VictoriaMetrics cluster](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/cluster-victoriametrics/): limit duration of requests to /api/v1/labels, /api/v1/label/.../values or /api/v1/series with `-search.maxLabelsAPIDuration` duration. Before, `-search.maxExportDuration` value was used by mistake. Thanks to @kbweave for the [pull request](https://github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/pull/5992).
 
 ## [v1.99.0](https://github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/releases/tag/v1.99.0)
diff --git a/lib/fs/fs.go b/lib/fs/fs.go
index 980066b10..7775360c3 100644
--- a/lib/fs/fs.go
+++ b/lib/fs/fs.go
@@ -351,6 +351,7 @@ func MustCreateFlockFile(dir string) *os.File {
 const FlockFilename = "flock.lock"
 
 // MustGetFreeSpace returns free space for the given directory path.
+// It tries to re-create path if it doesn't exist yet.
 func MustGetFreeSpace(path string) uint64 {
 	// Try obtaining cached value at first.
 	freeSpaceMapLock.Lock()
@@ -363,6 +364,12 @@ func MustGetFreeSpace(path string) uint64 {
 	}
 
 	// Slow path.
+
+	// The path might be not available because:
+	// 1. We forgot to create it in the code
+	// 2. OS cleaned it up
+	MustMkdirIfNotExist(path)
+
 	// Determine the amount of free space at path.
 	e.freeSpace = mustGetFreeSpace(path)
 	e.updateTime = fasttime.UnixTimestamp()