Russia: More than 10,000 houses are under water

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Rescue workers evacuating residents in the flooded part of the city of Orsk

Photo: Anatoliy Zhdanov / AFP

In Russia, the situation remains tense due to spring floods in the southern foothills of the Ural Mountains and other regions. The melting snow has caused numerous rivers to overflow their banks and resulted in massive flooding. “Dozens of settlements in the Siberia, Urals and Volga regions are flooded,” said Emergency Management Minister Alexander Kurenkov. A total of 39 regions were affected by the flood.

The Orenburg region was most affected. There, more than 10,000 houses were under water due to flooding in the Ural River and after several dam failures near the city of Orsk, the authorities announced on Monday. More than 6,100 people had to be brought to safety, including 2,000 in Orsk.

Orsk is located around 1,700 kilometers from Moscow, near the border with the Central Asian Republic of Kazakhstan. In the city with 200,000 inhabitants, the entire old town as well as other districts and surrounding villages were flooded, the Kommersant newspaper reported. Gas and electricity were switched off there. The authorities had already declared a state of emergency on Sunday.

Older residents of the city of Orsk in particular initially ignored the extent of the danger posed by the flood, said a spokeswoman for the regional administration in Orenburg: "They didn't want to be brought to safety when the water wasn't there yet."

The Civil Defense Ministry said the flood peak has now passed Orsk and will be in the region around the regional capital Orenburg with more than half a million inhabitants by Wednesday. According to the Orenburg city administration, the water reached a level of 8.93 meters on Monday morning - a level of 9.30 meters is considered critical.

Mayor Sergei Salmin said the situation would worsen in the next two days. He assumes that the level will exceed the previous high of 9.46 meters. He called on residents in low-lying parts of the city to leave their homes.

President Vladimir Putin ordered the creation of a special government commission to deal with the consequences of the flood.

It's not just the area around Orenburg that is affected. The Civil Defense Ministry also warned of a risk of flooding in Tyumen in western Siberia, which is home to numerous oil production sites. They are also preparing for evacuations there. In Siberia, rising levels are expected on the Ishim and Tobol rivers.

A state of emergency was also partially declared in Kurgan in southwest Siberia because the Suer River overflowed its banks. In the village of Sekisowo, a man drowned after trying to cross the river via a footbridge despite a ban, local authorities said. The man was drunk.

kfr/dpa/Reuters