Flood sirens are sounding in two Russian cities, warning thousands of residents to evacuate immediately.
Levels of two major rivers have reached overflow point, bringing the worst flooding the region has seen in at least 70 years
The Kremlin announced today that the president Vladimir Putin is focusing on dealing with the floods, but added that the most difficult days are not yet over for the Kurgan and Tyumen regions.
Putin is briefed on the floods
“Difficult days are still ahead of us in the Kurgan and Tyumen regions,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters. “There’s a lot of water coming,” he added.
The Kremlin said Putin discussed the situation by phone with the president of Kazakhstan, Kashim-Yomart Tokayev, a country also hard hit by the floods.
Asked if Putin would visit the Orenburg region, Pekshov said Putin is being kept informed of the situation, but there are currently no plans to visit the region. “Putin is virtually, albeit without a physical presence, constantly present in this matter,” Peskov said. “He deals with these issues all day long.”
The snow, which is melting fast in large parts of the Ural Mountains and Siberia, has caused some of the largest rivers to overflow, flooding at least 10,500 homes so far and putting many thousands more at risk.
The Urals river, its third largest Europe, which flows into the Caspian, broke an embankment on Friday and flooded the city of Orsk just south of the Ural mountain range. Further downriver, in Orenburg, a city of about 550,000, the water level is rising.
Sirens in Kurgan, a city on the Tobol River, a tributary of the Irtis, warned the population to evacuate immediately, and Governor Vadim Shumkov urged residents to take the warnings seriously.
“We understand you very well: it is difficult to leave your property and move somewhere after a call from local authorities,” Shumkov said, stressing that those asking to stay in their homes are being reckless. “It is better to laugh later together at the expense of hydrologists and thank God for the miracle of our common salvation. But let’s do it alive.”
The water level in Orenburg is expected to reach its highest point tomorrow, Wednesday.
And while President Vladimir Putin monitors the flooding situation from Moscow, in Orsk at least 100 angry residents have called on the Kremlin chief to help and shouted “shame on you” at local officials who they say have done little.
With large amounts of water flowing into rivers, a state of emergency was declared in Orenburg, Kurgan and Tyumen, a major oil-producing region in Western Siberia – the world’s largest hydrocarbon basin.
In Kurgan, a district of about 800,000 people, traditional Russian wooden houses and the golden domes of Russian Orthodox churches stand out in the flooded area.
In Zverinogolofskoge, a town in Kurgan Oblast, the water level in the Tobol River rose by 74 centimeters in just two hours. More than 19,000 people are at risk in Kurgan, TASS news agency reported.
The head of Russia’s Emergencies Ministry, Alexander Kurenkov, flew to the Orenburg region today to take stock of the situation at the behest of Putin, the ministry said.
Kurenkov will also visit Kurgan and Tyumen regions in the Urals, the ministry added.
“Precautionary measures are already being taken there, rescue teams have been strengthened and the forces and means of the Russian Emergencies Ministry have been put on alert,” the ministry announced.
According to iefimerida, the level of the Ural River, which originates in the Ural Mountains and flows into the Caspian Sea, rose by several meters within hours on Friday and breached a levee in the city of Orsk, 1,800 kilometers to the east. of Moscow.
Rising water levels are also forecast in Siberia’s Ishim River, a tributary of the Irtis River, which together with its main river, the Ob, forms the world’s seventh largest river system.
It is not clear why this year’s flooding is so severe, as snowmelt is an annual occurrence in the Russia. Scientists say climate change has made floods more frequent around the world.
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