Russia: 4,500 residents evacuated in the Urals after a dam burst

Europe 1 with AFP / Photo credit: RUSSIAN MINISTRY OF EMERGENCY / / ANADOLU / ANADOLU VIA AFP 10:08 p.m., April 6, 2024

Nearly 4,500 people were evacuated from a flooded area following the rupture of a dam on Friday in the Russian region of Orenburg, in the Urals, regional authorities announced on Saturday. President Vladimir Putin asked the Minister of Emergency Situations, Alexander Kurenkov, to go there, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitri Peskov said in the evening. In total, "4,402 people were evacuated", including more than 1,100 children, the press service of the regional governor, Denis Pasler, announced on Telegram, specifying that a little more than 6,000 houses were flooded in this border region of Kazakhstan. .

Nine localities have been flooded at this stage, according to local authorities. Evacuated people are being redirected "to temporary accommodation centers", Denis Pasler said in a separate message, announcing exceptional financial aid. “The situation in the old town is difficult,” admitted the official a little later, judging the extent of the damage “considerable”.

Leave “immediately”

These significant floods come the day after the rupture of a dam in Orsk, a town located on the border with neighboring Kazakhstan, explained the regional prosecutor's office. According to regional authorities, the dam, which partially failed, is designed for a level of the Urals, the region's great river, of 5.5 m, compared to 9.6 meters currently, thanks to the melting of the snows. “The water level (of the Ural River) (...) will continue to rise,” warned the mayor of the city of Orenburg, Sergei Salmine. In the coming hours, "the level could reach a critical threshold", he added, calling "everyone to immediately leave the houses located in the flood zone".

>> READ ALSO -

 François Hollande recommends having “no contact” with Russia

The Russian Emergency Situations Ministry released a video showing rescuers rescuing residents in flooded areas. More than 500 specialists are already in Orsk, and reinforcements are expected to arrive soon, he said. These floods also affect Kazakhstan, a country bordering Russia. In a speech, Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokaïev spoke on Saturday of "a natural disaster", "perhaps the greatest, in terms of scale and consequences, in the last 80 years", and indicated that a regime local emergency situation had been declared "in ten regions of the country".