They declare a state of emergency due to flooding in three regions of Russia

Photo taken from a video distributed by the Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations of the floods in Orsk, Orenburg, Russia, April 7, 2024 Credit: EFE/EPA/Press service of the Ministry of Emergency Situations of Russia
Photo taken from a video distributed by the Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations of the floods in Orsk, Orenburg, Russia, April 7, 2024 Credit: EFE/EPA/Press service of the Ministry of Emergency Situations of Russia
Photo taken from a video distributed by the Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations of the floods in Orsk, Orenburg, Russia, April 7, 2024 Credit: EFE/EPA/Press service of the Ministry of Emergency Situations of Russia
Photo taken from a video distributed by the Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations of the floods in Orsk, Orenburg, Russia, April 7, 2024 Credit: EFE/EPA/Press service of the Ministry of Emergency Situations of Russia
Photo taken from a video distributed by the Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations of the floods in Orsk, Orenburg, Russia, April 7, 2024 Credit: EFE/EPA/Press service of the Ministry of Emergency Situations of Russia
Photo taken from a video distributed by the Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations of the floods in Orsk, Orenburg, Russia, April 7, 2024 Credit: EFE/EPA/Press service of the Ministry of Emergency Situations of Russia
Photo taken from a video distributed by the Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations of the floods in Orsk, Orenburg, Russia, April 7, 2024 Credit: EFE/EPA/Press service of the Ministry of Emergency Situations of Russia

Moscow, Russia. — This Sunday, the Russian government declared a state of federal emergency due to flooding in the Orenburg region and began preparations for possible water overflows in three other regions, state media reported.

The floods, caused by the flood of the Ural Riverforced the eviction of 4,000 people, including 885 children, according to the regional government.

State news agency Tass said another 2,000 homes had been flooded, bringing the total to almost 6,300 in the region.

The total damage caused by the floods in the Orenburg region is estimated at about 21 billion rubles, the regional government reported.

He Minister of Emergency Situations, Alexander Kurenkovarrived on Sunday in Orsk – one of the most affected cities – to supervise rescue operations.

“I propose to classify the situation in the Orenburg region as a federal emergency and establish a federal-level response,” the minister said, according to RIA Novosti.

Orsk, located less than 20 kilometers north of the border with Kazakhstan, saw the worst flooding, causing a dam to burst on Friday, according to the city’s mayor, Vasily Kozupitsa. By Sunday morning there were 4,500 flooded residential buildings in the city of 200,000 inhabitants and evacuation efforts were still underway, according to Tass.

A criminal investigation has been opened to investigate alleged construction violations that could have caused the dam to break. Local authorities said the dam could withstand water levels of up to 5.5 metres. The water reached 9.3m on Saturday morning and was still rising. The water level on Sunday reached 9.7 m, according to AllRivers, a Russian website with flow information.

Authorities in Orsk reported that four people had died, although they indicated that their deaths were not related to the flooding.

Authorities in the regional capital, also called Orenburg, about 250 km from Orsk, wrote on Telegram on Sunday that the situation in the city “is getting worse” and the water had risen by 28 centimeters since the previous day.

Some 1,300 homes had been flooded and 428 people had been evacuated, they said.

Images from Orsk and Orenburg showed streets covered in water between single-story homes.

The Ural River, which runs for about 2,428 km, flows from the south of the Ural Mountains to the north of the Caspian Sea, through Russia and Kazakhstan.

The federal emergency designation reflects the risk of flooding beyond the Orenburg region. The Ministry of Emergency Situations evacuated about 820 people in the neighboring Samara region, the ministry reported.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskovsaid on Sunday that the Russian president Vladimir Putin spoke with Kurenkov, as well as the heads of the Kurgan and Tyumen regions, located in the Ural area, to discuss the situation and “the need for prompt adoption of measures to help people and their possible eviction.”

Preventive evictions began on Sunday in two districts of the Kurgan region, the regional department of the emergency ministry wrote on Telegram.

The Ural River, about 2,428 kilometers long, flows from the southern section of the Urals to the northern end of the Caspian Sea, through Russia and Kazakhstan.

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